Nigerian Major-General Becomes Leader Of Reorganized Regional Force

MNJTF (1)

Major General Tukur Yusuf Buratai has been appointed the force commander of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) tasked among other things, with fighting Boko Haram insurgency which has threatened to become a regional malaise.

The appointment was made public today by Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters via a post on its official website.

“The reorganised MNJTF arrangement is in line with the decisions of member countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), which include Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, with Benin Republic as a honorary member. The arrangement has the backing of partners in the fight against Boko Haram namely; France, the UK and the USA,” the statement by the DHQ read.

“The MNJTF has now been sectionised into 3 Sectors to achieve more effect in its operations with one of the sectors Headquarters retained in Baga.

“The MNJTF was formed as a result of the need by the LCBC member countries to pool their effort together in a bid to provide a common and coordinated solution to the security challenges in the Lake Chad Basin region, especially the security challenges posed by terrorists in the region and beyond. The MNJTF will work and collaborate with the forces of the member countries in the fight against terrorists,” the statement read.

Before being appointed to his new position, Maj-Gen. Buratai was a director at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja. He has, in the past, also served as the commandant of the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, the brigade commander at 2 Brigade of Nigerian Army and commander of Joint Task Force, operation PULO SHIELD.

Buratai had since his official appointment, assumed duties at the new headquarters of MNJTF in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad Republic.