The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah, has denied the purported plan to enlist 10,000 ex-Niger Delta militants in Nigeria’s South-South and ex-service men to boost the fight against insurgents in the North-East.
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) had yesterday warned the Nigerian Army against using ex-militants, who had benefitted from the late President Umaru Yar’Adua amnesty programme, under any guise to fight the Boko Haram insurgents in some parts of the North.
However, General Minimah at today’s commissioning of the Radio Diagnosis Centre of the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna, asked Nigerians to discard the rumour. He assured that the Nigerian military has the full capacity to rout out the terrorists and does not need to rely on ex-militants to accomplish the task.
He explained that the commissioning of the ultra-modern Radio Diagnosis Centre was part of the efforts by the Army authorities to boost the health and welfare of military personnel.
He also said the authorities of the Nigerian Army upgraded the hospital to a level four international standard given the nation’s contributions to peacekeeping across the world.
Earlier in his address, the Corps Commander Medicals of the Nigerian Army, Major General Obashina Ogunbiyi said the hospital remained the foremost tertiary and referral centre in the state which cater for both the army and civilian populace.
With the commissioning of the diagnostic centre, it is expected that the health needs of Kaduna residents and environs would be met and also reduce the high rate of medical tourism abroad due to poor health facilities in Nigeria.
Source News Express
