The 13 Brigade, the Nigerian Army, Calabar, has commended security agencies in Cross River for their collaboration with the command in providing security and maintaining peace and order in the state.
Brig.-Gen. Bulama Biu, the Brigade Commander, gave the commendation on Sunday during the celebration of the West African Social Activities (WASA) of the Nigerian Army in Calabar.
Represented by Col. Ralph Nnebeife, the Chief Staff Officer of the Command, Biu said that the collaboration had helped to foster unity and peace across the 18 local government areas of the state.
According to him, the command, under his leadership, will continue to carry out its constitutional duties of protecting the lives and properties of the citizenry.
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The issue of security is of utmost importance to us. I wish to commend other sister agencies for their cordial collaboration with the command.’’
Biu described WASA was an accepted age long tradition of the Nigerian Army of getting officers, soldiers’ families and friends in a conducive atmosphere to mark the end of year activities.
“WASA is linked to the period of the West African Frontier Force where persons in the society whose ancestral background with some traditional or customary heritage, started joining the army.
“Sacrifices were usually offered at the end of the harvest and the beginning of planting season to their gods and ancestors for bounty harvest and peace.
“During those periods, delegates were usually sent to the military authority by their village head to seek the release of soldiers for the yearly ritual.
“Rather than releasing soldiers yearly to various towns and villages to perform these rituals, the military authority then incorporated it into army activities and tagged it `WASA’.
“The colonial masters upheld this tradition in the army to command the confidence of officers and soldiers and also foster esprit de corps among them towards the discharge of their duties’’, he said.
In his message, Commodore Salihu Jibrin, Commander, Nigerian Navy Ship, `Victory’, said it was important for security agencies to form a synergy with a view to achieving a unified purpose.
Jibrin noted that WASA celebration had promoted cultural harmony among army officers, their families and friends as well civilians in the barracks.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that officers from the Air Force, Immigration, Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Navy, among others, attended the event.
NAN also reports that cultural troops representing different tribes of the country entertained guests with their cultural displays. (NAN)
GNO/JAN/NKO
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