The Chief? of Army Staff (COAS), said yessterday that the Nigerian Army is reviewing the retirement age of soldiers from 60 years to 70 years.
He stated this during the commissioning of the Nigerian Army Transformation and Innovation Centre, yesterday in Abuja.
Lt. General Ihejirika, has declared that terrorism and other security challenges facing the country would continue to thrive if the Nigerian Army continues with its customary approach of fighting the trend.
The army chief, who noted the failure of the Nigerian Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) to meet the contemporary security challenges, said the menace would remain for a long time unless the approach was changed.
He said: “We want a unit that would think out of the box. As you are aware, Nigerian Army, and like every other army, highly regimented and believed so much in tradition. These sorts of attitude no longer cope with the way security issues emerge.
“For example, few years back, only the Nigerian Army, Police and the other security services had the monopoly of wireless communication. But that situation has changed. Today also, there is so much proliferation of arms that certain misguided citizens are able to acquire heavy machine guns; AK47 is like walking sticks in some places.”
According to the army chief, every standard must be put to test in the field as the old tradition of sticking to a particular standard would not be tolerated.