Following the abduction and subsequent rescue of more than 40 schoolchildren and their teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, the Nigerian Army has taken over the Old Oyo National Park and converted the facility into a training centre.
The General Officer Commanding, 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Auwalu Mahmuda, disclosed this when he received members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Oyo State Council, at the division’s headquarters in Odogbo, Ibadan.
Mahmuda said the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shuaibu, directed the division to use the vast forest reserve as a training ground, with the Army already taking control of the facility.
He explained that the move is aimed at strengthening security in and around the park while preventing criminal elements from using the forest as a hideout.
The GOC said the facility would also give troops the opportunity to train in terrain similar to the environment in which criminal groups could operate, improving their preparedness for forest-based security operations.
The Army’s presence, he added, is expected to enhance surveillance and security around the area and reduce the risk of a repeat of the abduction that triggered heightened security operations across parts of Oyo State.
