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Army to lay off 5,000 soldiers

    ABIDJAN

    Under a plan to restructure the Nigerian army some 5,000 soldiers will lose their jobs by the end of the year, PANA reported the Army Chief of Staff as saying on Wednesday.

    Lieutenant-General Victor Malu said that the aim of the restructuring “is to have a highly professional, highly trained and highly mobile army, vast in information technology that can meet the requirements of a rapidly changing battlefield.”

    He added that another 1,000 men would be employed under the programme. The army’s strength is currently estimated at some 80,000, down from almost 200,000 during the country’s 1967-70 civil war, PANA reported.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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