Nigeria’s President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 affirmed that his incoming administration would resume military cooperation with the United States of America after the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan cancelled the training agreement between both countries over alleged insincerity on the part of the Americans.
Speaking via an article published in the New York Times, General Buhari pledged to reform the Nigerian military among other things.
General Buhari also said he would be looking to deploy additional troops in the North Eastern region where fighting was taking place, saying he would reduce the number of troops in the South and North Central states where civilian population was high.
He said: “My administration would welcome the resumption of a military training agreement with the United States, which was halted during the previous administration. We must, of course, have better coordination with the military campaigns our African allies, like Chad and Niger, are waging in the struggle against Boko Haram. But, in the end, the answer to this threat must come from within Nigeria.
“We must start by deploying more troops to the front and away from civilian areas in central and southern Nigeria where for too long they have been used by successive governments to quell dissent.
“We must work closer with our neighbours in coordinating our military efforts so an offensive by one army does not see their country’s rid of Boko Haram only to push it across the border onto their neighbour’s territory.”
