Sambisa to serve as training ground for army – Buratai says

Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, has disclosed that come 2017, the Nigerian Army will begin to use Sambisa Forest as one of its training grounds. Buratai disclosed this while speaking to troops in Damasak, Borno state yesterday. He said:

“We are also opening up roads to the forest – Sambisa, as well as Alagarno forest. This Sambisa forest is going to be one of our training grounds. Next year, 2017, I have already directed that we should conduct our Nigerian Army small arms championship in that forest. And we are going to use it also to test fire our fighting vehicles, as well as other key equipment and weapons that requires testing firing whenever we want to induct new weapon and equipment into the Nigerian army inventory. It will afford us very good ground for basic tactics and indeed advance tactics, including but not limited to tactics at the Platoon, company, battalion, Brigade and even division levels. We are going to make it more robust to make sure that these criminals do not come back to that forest again".