Boko Haram: DHQ graduates 1st set of personnel trained to repair war vehicles

By Joseph Erunke

ABUJA-THE first set of military personnel trained by the Defence Headquarters to service and maintain military war vehicles including armoured vehicles being currently used against Boko Haram terrorists in the North East, graduated yesterday.

The technicians, who cut across the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force and the Nigerian Navy, are to maintain current and future automobiles of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and its personnel.

At the graduation ceremony of the 14 military personnel from the Armed Forces Electrical and Mechanical Engineering school, AFEME, in Abuja, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, while noting that the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies were working assiduously in ensuring terrorism and other criminalities were checkmated, said it was pertinent for the Armed Forces to have technicians with requisite skills to maintain weapons, armed fighting vehicles as well as soft skinned vehicles in support of the ongoing operations.

The successful training of 14 out of the 15 students who who started the programme at AFEME Mechantronic School, located at the Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja, was the fulfillment of the bilateral agreement between Nigeria and the German Ministries of Defence, leading to its establishment in 2015.

Olonisakin, who was represented at the occasion by the Chief of Defence Logistics, Major General Austin Okoh,
said the feat was an encouragement to the two countries to explore other avenues for collaborative partnership in the interest of development.

He also said the need for enhancing the technical ability of military personnel cannot be over emphasized at this time when according to him, “modern military have become more compact and highly mobile as well as tackling contemporary challenges the nation is experiencing.”

He said the training of the personnel on the repair and maintenance of the Armed Forces armoured vehicles and other automobiles would not have come at a better time to ensure that “our technicians provide effective equipment support to the Armed Forces.”

While charging the graduands to put the knowledge they acquired during the training to practice for the benefit of the Armed Forces and also to justify the quality of training from the prestigious institution, Olonisakin said having been awarded military certificate with civil accreditation from the National Board for Technical Education, they must consider themselves privileged given that the certificates issued to them would be acceptable for employment after their services in the Nigerian Military.

Recall that the school was commissioned in May 27, 2015, based on a bilateral agreement signed between the Nigerian and German Ministries of Defence.

The objective of the school was to produce technicians from the Armed Forces of Nigeria that would be capable of tackling complex challenges as well as maintenance of current and future automobiles of the Armed Forces and its personnel.

It enrolls technicians from the Army, the Air Force and the Navy who undergo an intensive two-year training in line with the National Board for Technical Education curriculum and the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce Regulations.

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