The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that five formations under the 2 Division would be competing in various activities during the four days exercise.
Maj.-Gen. Gold Chibuisi, General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Division, in his opening remarks, said the competition was in line with the Army Headquarters training directive for the year.
According to him, the event is aimed at improving the standard of battle readiness, physical fitness, strength, professionalism and developing spirit of comradeship among the cadre of troops in a joint environment.
Represented by Brig.-Gen. Sani Abdullahi, Brigade Commander 4 Brigade, Chibuisi noted that the goals and objectives were as pertinent as repositioning the Nigerian Army to better discharge its responsibilities.
He urged the participants to prepare themselves to be challenged, inspired and exhibit the spirit of sportsmanship in order to attain the highest standard of professionalism.
Hee said this was to achieve the Chief of Army Staff’s vision of “a professional Nigerian Army ready to accomplish assigned missions within a Joint environment in defence of Nigeria”.
The GOC, who said that the annual event was organised for officers between Major and 2nd Lieutenant rank brackets, “is designed to improve the leadership qualities of Junior commanders, their initiatives and prepare them for higher responsibilities in a joint environment”.
According to Chibuisi, “the competition could not have come at a better time when our dear nation was in need of quality leadership in the military”.
According to him, “it is our duty to collectively and patroticaly see ourselves as vanguard for the enthronement of ideas that will elicit nation building; this type of competition is one of such ideas, as our contributions to nation building is invaluable”.
Earlier, Brig.-Gen. Sani Abdullahi, Commander 4 Brigade, said that “an Army is only as strong as the training it provides its personnel in the discharge of its roles”.
Abdullahi, represented by the Brigade Chief of Staff, Col. W.Diriya, noted that it was against this backdrop that exercise and competition of this nature were enshrined in the training calendar of the Nigerian Army.
He said the essence of the competition was to better position troops to meet contemporary challenges and enhance human development capacity.
He added that this was in tandem with the Chief of Army staff’s vision.
NAN reports that the participating formations include 4 Brigade Benin; 22 Brigade, Ilorin; 32 Artillery Brigade, Akure; 2 Division Garrison, Ibadan; and 42 Division Engineers/52 Signal Brigade/Engineer Construction command, Ibadan.
Activities to be competed for are drills, combat swimming, map reading, weapon/shooting as well as physical fitness.