Nigeria has offered to train at least 2,000 officers and men of Sierra Leone’s new army, Brigadier General Maxwell Khobe told journalists. Khobe, a Nigerian who is Sierra Leone’s Chief of Defence Staff, said the first 500 recruits would be sent to Nigeria soon, according to the Sierra Leone News website. The officers will undergo 12 weeks of basic training at the Nigerian Defence Academy and the enlisted men half that time at the same institution. They will return to Sierra Leone before 29 May, when a democratic civilian government is expected to regain power in Nigeria. ECOMOG’s Nigerian contingent is expected to pull out around that date.
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