Nigerians must work together and offer maximum support to government to secure the country from insurgents, bandits and other criminals.

Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, made the plea at the opening of the first quarter annual conference of Nigeran Army Infantry Corps, holding in Jaji, Kaduna State, themed Leveraging Land Power for Current and Future Warfare: The Unity of Combat Arms.

Buratai said while the Army was deploying maximum intelligence in its operations, the massive support of the populace would help expose criminal elements and facilitate their decimation to make the country more peaceful and stable.

He hailed the military exploits against Boko Haram, saying that the insurgents are being smoked out from Nigeria’s borders with Niger, Chad and Cameroon, Today we have the full initiative in collaboration with the members of Multi National Joint Task Force countries, we are working hard to ensure we finally sanitize the northern part of Borno, our border fringes with Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Buratai said terrorism was quite complex and requires a more comprehensive approach involving government, communities, individuals and all other stakeholders in the country, saying if this is done, we will be able contain it at anytime it rears it ugly head.

“The armed forces have done their best, but we must continue to preserve the territorial integrity of our country and defend her from external aggression and any form of internal security challenges.”

Earlier, the Commander Infantry Corps, Major-General Stevenson Olabanji said though the Army had lost some of its personnel and men while fighting insurgency, new initiatives had ensured overwhelming victory against the terrorists.

Olabanji mentioned that urgent evolution has been adopted in the training of personnel with new ideas and inputs to fight the menace.

He said retired Commanders of the infantry were invited to the conference for reunion, tap from their experiences and brainstorm and exchange ideas on how to move the Nigerian infantry forward.