Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Boko Haram: What is the reason for this diplomatic divorce?Nigerian govt cancels US training of Nigerian soldiers

 At the  request of the Nigerian government, the United States of America (USA) has said it has discontinued its training of a Nigerian Army battalion. The question is why?


The first two phases of training were conducted between April and August 2014, and had provided previously untrained civilian personnel with basic soldiering skills.
The Nigerian Tribune explained that based on mutual assessment of the Nigerian Army and U.S. trainers, a third iteration of training was agreed upon with the intent of developing the battalion into a unit with advanced infantry skills.
A statement from the Public Affairs Section, United States, Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria, Abuja, made available to Nigerian Tribune reads: “We regret premature termination of this training, as it was to be the first in a larger planned project that would have trained additional units with the goal of helping the Nigerian Army build capacity to counter Boko Haram. 
The U.S. government will continue other aspects of the extensive bilateral security relationship, as well as all other assistance programmes.”
This is utter rubbish! We’re Nigerians, part of this great country called Nigeria. Our government owes a duty to explain to us why this call off a training. I mean, is this training not supposed to be towards equipping our soldiers, for better fighting skills against the dreaded Boko Haram Islamist sect? What the heck is going on?







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