BY KINGSLEY OMONOBI, Abuja

Chief of Army Staff,Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika has raised the alarm over the proliferation of arms and ammunition among certain misguided people in the society, saying ,“people are able to acquire heavy machine guns and AK 47 rifles. They are just like walking sticks all over the place. It is worrisome”.

He made the disclosure just as he noted that if the on-going war against terrorism and other insecurity challenges should be brought to an end, the Nigeria Army has to change from the traditional ways of doing things to modern system with a view to embrace pro-active approach.

Gen. Ihejirika noted the failure of the Nigerian Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) to meet the contemporary security challenges in its policies, occasioned by the terrorism being orchestrated by the Boko Haram sect in the country, saying, unless the approach is changed, the menace would remain for a long time.

“TRADOC has been using the same approach for the past 20-25 years to do  a deliberate review of Nigerian Army practice but they are slightly traditional, slow and sometime sluggish in their approach to issues. We want a unit that would think out of the box. As you are aware, Nigerian Army, and like every other Army, is highly regimented and believe so much in tradition. This sort of attitude is no longer coping with the way security issues emerge.

“Few years ago, only the army, police and other security services had the monopoly of wireless communication. Today that situation has changed.