The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, has tasked soldiers in the discharge of their duties, saying the nation depends on them to eradicate insecurity and terrorism across the country.
The COAS also stated that the Army was realigning its training methods with the modern trend and equipment.
He spoke Tuesday at the Nigerian Army Doctrine and Training Conference held at the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Headquarters in Minna, Niger state.
A major highlight of the conference was the launch of the Nigerian Army Manual on Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear Warfare, with the Army saying 10,000 copies to be distributed through the Nigerian Army schools and training centres, had already been produced.
Speaking at the event, the COAS promised to prioritise the soldiers’ needs before those in the officer cadre.
Oluyede said: “There are so many challenges facing us. The whole of Nigeria depends on all of us here, and we must get that clear. Nigeria is depending on us believing that we can make a change. If a country is not secure, there is no way there will be economic prosperity because no investor would invest in it where it is not safe.
“As Chief of Army Staff, I am going to prioritise you soldiers first because if we do not have soldiers, we won’t have officers, so my soldiers come first. I will prioritize your welfare and see how I can make things better for you so that you can do your job well.”
On the challenges facing the soldiers, he said: “I have taken all your challenges to the highest level and President Tinubu has promised to look into it. We are looking at how to improve your allowances, build more accommodations, upgrade the current accommodations and other things that would make your lives easy.”
While saying he was not unaware of promises made in the past by previous army chiefs, he assured that in his own time, whatever promise he made would be fulfilled.
…On training
While noting that the nation’s current security and defence environments were characterised by both transnational and domestic challenges, Oluyede said there was need for a paradigm shift in the handling of the new security issues.
He said: “While doctrine is about how we fight today’s battle, concept, which in the ideal sense, is the harbinger of doctrine, focuses on how we change the army for future battles. The concept advances ideas for significant change based on proposed approaches to operations and technology. When a concept is validated, its ideas are transformed into doctrine. Hence, both concept and doctrine ultimately shape the Army’s training and procurement efforts to enable the Force to achieve national objectives.
“This underscores my commitment to realistic training, adequate troop sustenance, pragmatic equipment procurement, and maintenance as critical requirements for combat readiness and operational success in the Nigerian Army.
“It is no news that Nigeria’s current security and defence environments are characterised by both transnational and domestic challenges. These challenges include terrorism, insurgency, banditry, and conflicts between farmers and herders. Additionally, we face widespread economic crimes related to oil and gas pipeline vandalism, as well as secessionist agitations, among other concerns.”
“In addressing these challenges, the Nigerian Army has prioritised equipment upgrades and manpower boosts in the past decade. However, the intensity of our commitment to resolving the security issues at hand has made it difficult to comprehensively review how we train to fight today’s battle with the modern equipment we have acquired vis-a-vis the nature of the threat we face”, addedthe army chief.
On the conference theme: “Understanding Nigerian Army Doctrine for Effective Training within a Joint Environment,” he said this aligns with his command philosophy of transforming the Army into a well-motivated and combat-ready force.
He further charged participants and major stakeholders in the training value chain to come up with innovative ideas to improve the Army’s training curriculum and operational readiness.
According to him, such innovation must emphasise the principle of “training hard in peace to bleed less in war.”
Oluyede reiterated that the Army would continue to deal with every terrorist or terrorist group appropriately, noting that this explains why troops were been deployed to the field on regular basis to put an end to terrorism and insurgency.
“Most times, these terrorists run away from us. But be that as it may, we are still doing our best to ensure that we deal with them appropriately,” he said.
…TRADOC chief on conference importance
Earlier in his address, Commander TRADOC Major-General Kelvin Aligbe spoke on the importance of the conference.
“This annual doctrinal ritual sets the tone for training activities in all Nigerian Army training schools and centres by drawing inspiration from the extant Nigerian Army’s Proactive Responsive Doctrine to guide our training on how we should fight,” Aligbe said.
Aligbe also spoke on army’s relationship with other services, government security agencies as well as non-governmental stakeholders for the country to achieve the needed prosperity.
The TRADOC chief said: “At the national level, the Nigerian Army would be operating largely as part of a joint task force or multi-agency outfit while retaining the readiness to do same under a multinational force within a regional or global arrangement.
“It is, therefore, accepted that the first step to achieving the desired effectiveness within a joint or multinational environment is to have well-trained and mission-capable troops.”