Rukayat Yisau
The Federal government of Nigeria has cancelled the military training arrangement it had with the United States.
The cancelled training was to be the third in a series of training programs the US military was handling with its Nigerian counterpart.
In a statement released on Monday through its Information Office in Abuja, the US Embassy regretted the untimely termination of the training programme, saying it would have empowered the Nigerian soldiers and built their capacity to counter the Boko Haram terrorists.
The first two phases of the training were conducted between April and August, 2014. These, the US said, had provided untrained civilian personnel with basic soldiering skills.
The US statement read in part, “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. We regret the 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.”
However, the US government said it would keep on with other aspects of the extensive bilateral security relationship with Nigeria.
It would also continue other assistance programmes to help Nigeria overcome insurgency.
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