The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt Gen TY Buratai said, the dynamic nature of our domestic security environment has informed the Indigenous Languages Proficiency Course for officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army (NA).
This was revealed during the graduation ceremony of Indigenous Languages Proficiency Course 3 at the Nigerian Army Resource Center (NARC) by the Chief of Logistics Maj Gen EO Udoh who represented the COAS at the occasion.
According to Gen Udoh, the security environment in Nigeria is currently undermined by a plethora of threats which include the activities of the degraded Boko Haram terrorists, herdsmen-farmers clashes, cattle rustling, armed robbery, kidnapping/hostage taking, assassination and cultism among others.
He said the potency of these threats to undermine Nigeria’s national security, cohesion and peaceful coexistence is further escalated and re-enforced by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons across the entire country.
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Similarly, he explained further that the domestic security environment is threatened by the increasing activities of different separatist and ethno-religious groups such as the Niger Delta militants, Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He disclosed that, it is against this backdrop, that the ability to communicate with the local population is a key requirement for success in the security environment. He congratulated the NARC and Laclic Services Limited for the success so far in bringing this policy initiative to reality.
Earlier in his remarks, the Director General (DG) of NARC Maj Gen JGS Hamakim (rtd) said the Indigenous Languages Proficiency Course is the initiative of the COAS to make officers and soldiers of the NA proficient in two other languages apart from their mother tongue. The Course will also make personnel of the NA to be adequately equipped and fitted into domestic security environment and therefore be on top of the security situations.
The highlight of the graduation ceremony was the presentation of playlets in appreciation of the three major Nigerian languages classes in Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. The presentation of the playlets was a demonstration of the understanding of the three major languages by the participants.
The participants were later presented with certificates of participation by the representative of the COAS, Maj Gen EO Udoh. The event was witnessed by Principal Staff Officers from the Army Headquarters, officers, soldiers, civilians staff of the Centre and staff of Laclic Services Limited.
