President Muhammadu Buhari officially received the new army chief of staff, Major General. Farouk Yahaya at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) reports that the Minister of Defense, Major-General is retired. Bashir Magashi, accompanied by the Chief of the Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabo, introduced Yahaya to the President.
Yahaya was appointed on May 27 to replace Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Army, who died with ten military officers in a plane crash in Kaduna.
Responding to questions from State House correspondents, Magashi said the president shared his experience with them, which they intended to use to address the country’s security challenges.
He said: “What really brought us to the Villa today is to introduce the new Army Chief of Staff, Major General. Farouk Yahaya; who was just appointed president 11 days ago for his blessings and guidance.
“The president gave advice on how we can proceed with this operation to improve the overall security of the country.
“Being on the ground in the past, he has given us a direction in which we can learn from his experiences and apply it to how we operate.
“With that we are wiser today and we have assured him that we will do our best to end the security problem in this country.”
He said the issue of synergy between the armed forces and all security agencies was highlighted during the meeting, adding that there would be many changes in the security situation in the country.
According to Magashi, there will be more collaboration between all security agencies, especially with the police, as they work hard to bring peace to those parts of the country where there are challenges.
“In the north-west of the country, the major problem is that of kidnappings, banditry and other crimes.
“We take up the challenge but you really know, it’s a constitutional responsibility of the police.
“But, we give them maximum cooperation in order to end the insecurity in the North West.
“In the North-East, it’s a different scenario, where there is the problem of Boko Haram, which is an ideological thing.
“We are ready to ensure that the problem of Boko Haram is brought to an end, especially with the ongoing development of the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) province.
“So we are doing our best,” he said.
