Officers and men of the Nigerian Army Engineers Corps have been urged  to support the efforts of the Nigeria Army to curb insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country.
The Corps Commander of the Nigerian Army Engineers, Major General Sarduarna Davies, said insurgency in the North East was a problem to everybody in the force, irrespective of where they were posted to serve, promising that the force must crush insurgency in the North East.
He urged officers to help the Chief of Army Staff achieve success in the North East, urging them to dust their books on counter insurgency to properly sharpen their skills for the battle against Boko Haram.
General Davies, who made the call, while taking over command as the Corps Commander of the Nigerian Army Engineers (NAE), explained that, “as the new corps commander, priority will be given to insurgency in the North-East to help the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah achieve success.” General Davies, who took over from Major General Funsho Owonibi as the new Corps Commander of NAE said: “Don’t fold your hands here and say it’s not your problem because you are in Lagos or Enugu. Soon, if not addressed collectively, it will be a problem for all of us if not tackled headlong.
“Dust your books on counter insurgency because in the next few weeks, that is all that we will be talking about in this corps. ‎Stopping insurgency is part of the responsibility of the corps.”
In an interview with defence correspondents after the change of parade, ‎Davies explained that although the corps did not physically engage in warfare, its job was indeed to make sure the soldiers at the war front got all the necessary ‎support in terms of structures and equipment.
He said:  “Whatever we are doing there, we have the army to move, fight and live. The corps constructs roads, bridges, and what we are going to do is to help those fighting the war by building their bunkers and trenches.
“‎By clearing their parts to fight and attack the terrorists and making all sorts of equipment that will pave their way. For now, no commander can do otherwise but help the soldiers in the war front. For now, we are ensuring that we have a conclusive end to insurgency.”
On what his vision for the corps is, he said, “It is too early to say what I intend to achieve. For now, my vision has to come from the chief of army staff’s vision.”
In his farewell address, the outgone commander, Major General Owonibi, said the corps did it’s best in manufacturing sufficient equipment to tackle the insurgency.
He said, “During my time here, we came up with a research and we were able to manufacture some things used to fight the war in the North-east.
“We were able to produce some indigenous equipment like the armoured personnel carrier (APC) and the Gamma, which was ‎used to convey the Improvised Explosive Device (IED).”
He also said his administration was guided by the HEN acronym, which stands for human capacity development, equipment acquisition and national development.
He said, “The common stand in all the elements of ‘HEN’ was innovation. Consequently, I unfolded my vision for the NAE which was to promote knowledge and innovation as key drivers‎ to performing traditional engineering roles, contribute to national development while supporting the NA to meet contemporary challenges.
“Within the period of my stewardship, the corps made modest achievements in innovation, human capacity building, infrastructural as well as national development, especially in areas of training on special EBC and bomb disposal.”
Citing the reconstruction of the Police College in Lagos, as one of his many achievements‎ while in office, Owonibi however said the major challenge he faced was finding and managing the human capital ‎resources.
He said, “Asides that, funding was another major challenge because when you have a vision and plan to do more but it is inhibited by lack of funds. Anyway, we somehow managed to surmount them.
“Our challenge with rehauling and rehabilitating the police college in Lagos was that the project belonged to another force. So, I made up my mind that there will be no complains afterwards and at the end, the police authorities commended us.”

We must curb insurgency in the North East –Army engineers told