Stories by Musa Umar Bolog
One of the participants of the exercise WAZOBIA Kungama conducted at the Falgore forest in Kano state, Lt.-Col. S. Abdullahi, briefing the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, while the Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Maj. Gen. Adeniyi Oyebade, and the Commandant, Nigerian Army School of Infantry (NASI), Brig.-Gen. J. Sarham, listen
Nigerian is to establish a Forward Operation Base (FOB) once dreaded Falgore forest in Doguwa Local Government Area of Kano State, to address various security challenges in the area.
Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai announced this weekend when he paid a visit to troops undergoing training in the forest which had served as safe haven for armed banditry, cattle rustlers and kidnappers.
Buratai also said the forest would henceforth serve as one of the permanent training groundsfor the Nigerian army.
This, he said was made possible as the Kano State Government had allocated the forest to the army. The joint exercise tagged: “WAZOBI Kungama” began on November 17 and ends on November 25.
The exercise is the the conclusion of training to assess the 76 Regular Recruits of the Nigerian Army and other participants in tactical, command and control, as well as all manners of maneuver warfare on counter insurgency.
The other participants were drawn from the Nigerian Army Schools of infantry, Nigerian Army School of Artillery, and Nigerian Army Master Warrant Training School.
He said: “Exercise WAZOBIA Kungama is a training schedule of the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, as well as the Depot, where they put their students together on what they were taught indoors.
Buratai said since his appointment as chief of army staff in 2015, the army had been delibrate in its training schedules.
“We have been seeing areas that have challenges and we are bringing the troops to have a feel in real terms where they will be operating once they graduate and this terrain, vegetation and environment – Falgore forest is a very good training ground,” he said.
He said the forest would both serve training ground and also provided the needed security to address armed banditry, kidnapping and other criminal acts common in the area.
“Our presence will serve as deterrence, where our troops on training meet such criminal elements, they will also deal with them accordingly,” he said.
The army flushed bandits and other criminal elements from the forest through the “Operation Harbin Kunama” I and II in 2016 and early 2017.
The forest, which covers about 1000 square kilometers, lies in Tudun Wada, Doguwa and Sumaila local government areas of the state and extends its boundary line between Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi and Plateau states.
