An extraordinary meeting of Heads and Government of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin has approved that Nigeria retains the position of the force commander in the war against Boko Haram until the end of the mission.

It also approved that the slot of the deputy force commander and chief of staff be rotated between Cameroun and Chad every twelve months.

Their decision followed an earlier rejection of a rotational six-month tenure of the Multi-National Joint Task Force’s Commander, by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr. Buhari suggested instead that Nigeria heads the force for the period of the war against the insurgents since it was providing the bulk of troops.

Mr. Buhari had earlier argued that such a process will undermine the military’s capacity to sustain the push against the insurgents “who also have the uncanny ability to adapt and rejig their operational strategies”.

“This command will be to the effectiveness of military strategy, since Nigeria will be providing the bulk of the troops and the main theatre of the war is on Nigerian soil,” he said.

Read More: premiumtimesng