Army Peacekeeping Centre gets UN accreditation

THE United Nations will on Thursday formally grant the Nigerian Army Peacekeeping Centre (NAPKC), Jaji, Kaduna, an Accreditation Certificate in recognition of its peacekeeping for training in Peace Support Operations.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, is leading a delegation of senior officers of the Army to receive the document at a function being put together by the United Nations Headquarters, New York.
The accreditation, which represents a formal endorsement of the quality of training at the Army Peacekeeping Centre, will qualify the Centre to manage UN training activities and efforts in the promotion of peacekeeping all over the world.
Presently, the NAPKC runs structured peacekeeping courses for Military Observers, Command and Staff Operations Skills, Train-the-Trainers, and Pre-deployment training for officers and soldiers as well as other courses.  
With the new status, the Centre will soon commence mission specific physical training of both the police and civilian peacekeeping elements.
Director of Army Public Relations, Brig Gen Chris Olukolade said in a statement in Abuja that “Nigeria is the first country to be accorded such recognition and it stands to receive assistance in terms of logistics support for its training programmes.  The NAPKC is now empowered by the UN to train potential peacekeepers at the expense of the requesting countries.”
The Centre began operation in 2004 as the Peacekeeping Wing (PKW) of Infantry Centre and School, Jaji. It was upgraded to an autonomous training institution by the Army last year with Maj Gen Emeka Onwuamaegbu as the Commandant.
It has trained over 13, 000 Nigerian Army officers and soldiers for various peace support missions across the globe.  
It was established to provide efficient and realistic tactical, operational and specialist training for Nigerian Army troops in order to meet the multi dimensional challenges of peace support operations as well as general and specialist peacekeeping skills.
Nigeria is the fourth largest troops contributing country to UN peace support operations all over the world.