The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, has said that the Nigerian Military has succeeded in breaking the union between the two foremost terror groups operating in the country, Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP).
He charged the troops to maintain the tempo, adding that with the crack in the “unholy union” between the two groups, their days of bloodletting are numbered.
According to the COAS, who spoke while declaring open the 2nd Edition of Army Headquarters Department of Military Secretary Career Planning and Management Seminar in Abuja, the military is making giant strides in ending the insurgency.
He said, “I am glad to note that we are making giant strides against Islamic State in West Africa Province ISWAP, in our bid to unhinge the unholy union between them and the remnant of Boko Haram terrorist.
“We are certainly on cause and focused. It is therefore imperative that we maintain the momentum while motivating our officers and men through our efficient and balance career planning process. Again let me draw your attention to my strategic goal for the year 2020 which is to sustain professionalism of the Army and responsiveness in the discharge of its constitutional roles.
“To this end, all activities and operational directive must align with this goal. I am charging the formation commanders to push the boundary of success by ensuring that our effort in Operation Lafiya Dole and other operations are sustained and consolidated. Similarly, our striving in research and development in collaboration with Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria DICON, must be sustained to maintain the existing equipment and continually strive to produce military hardware and platforms.”
He continued that as part of effort to consolidate the gains already recorded in the counter terrorism operations in North East, the Nigerian Army will not tolerate laissez-faire attitude from Commanders and troops involved in the terror war.
Buratai also tasked officers and soldiers in theatre of operation to be law abiding and maintain the highest professional standard in all operation and routine activities within and outside Nigerian Army.
He said that the seminar was designed to avail Army Officers with contemporary approaches to military human resource management, noting that the seminar will expose participants to human resource management “in a world that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous”.
He further directed all the Commanders to develop the capacity of their officers and soldiers in critical thinking “aimed at ensuring that personnel under their command are upwardly mobile in their ability to understand context and easily proffer credible and workable solutions to problems”.
Earlier in his address of welcome, the Army Secretary, Major General Gabriel Ochigbano, said that the Army Headquarters Department of Military Secretary has consistently been entrusted with the responsibility of planning the careers of Nigerian Army officers.
He noted that the Department among others criteria, relies critically on annual reports written on officers and courses reports as well as other occurrences along the career path of each officer to effectively achieve the aforesaid objective.
