TheCable

Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, says the Nigerian army is working towards turning Sambisa forest into a tourist centre and a training ground for the army.

Sambisa forest, which is in Borno state, is a stronghold of the Boko Haram sect. Located in the south-western part of Chad Basin national park, it is about 60 kilometer south-east of Maiduguri, Borno capital.

Buratai said the army will work with national park service and the Borno government to revive the forest to attract tourists into the country.

He said this on Tuesday when Ibrahim Goni, conservator-general of national park service, paid him an advocacy visit at the army headquarters in Abuja.

He added that the forest deserved to be revived as it harboured a large number of wild animals, noting that the army would see the possibility of working with relevant stakeholders to make the forest a tourists’ attraction and training ground for the army.

In January, the army announced that it had commenced road construction projects in the forest.

“In its efforts to make Sambisa forest habitable and also training ground, the Nigerian Army is following up the ongoing clearance operations with road construction into main heartland of the forest and adjoining communities,” Sani Kukasheka, army director, had said.