LAGOS, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government Tuesday said it has approved special promotion of 6,199 soldiers fighting Boko Haram terrorists in restive northeast part of the country, to various ranks.
Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai gave the approval, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, an army spokesperson said in a statement reaching Xinhua in Lagos.
He said 329 Staff Sergeants were promoted to Warrant Officers, 371 Sergeants to Staff Sergeants and 707 Corporals to Sergeants.
Others are Lance Corporals to Corporals, 1,290 soldiers; Privates to Lance Corporals, 3,502 soldiers.
The army spokesman quoted Buratai as congratulating the newly promoted soldiers and urged them to increase the tempo of the ongoing clearance operations of the Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East.
Last weekend, Buratai directed troops to capture Abubakar Shekau, the self-styled leader of Boko Haram, "dead or alive."
He commanded the troops to employ all arsenal at their disposal to smoke out Shekau wherever he is hiding in Nigeria.
Boko Haram has been blamed for the deaths of more than 20,000 people and displacing of 2.3 million others in Nigeria since their insurgency started in 2009.
