By; Isaac Odeh, Kaduna.
In view of the renewed threats in the Niger Delta and the insurgency in the North East, the Nigerian Army said it has adopted the manouverist approach to warfare in its bid to address the contemporary challenges being faced in the country.
Speaking in an interview with journalist shortly after the graduation ceremony of Junior Course 81/2016 at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji, Kaduna over the weekend, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai said the Army has gone a step further by inaugurating a motorcycle unit that is already operational in the North East.
He noted that the maneuverist approach to contemporary warfare is being improved upon in the training of middle level and senior military officers in the country.
He added, “We look at the issue of counter revolutionary warfare as well as the counter-insurgency training and that is what we are focusing on. I am proud to say that virtually, all of our training institutions have adapted to these changes and have since begun the process of integrating them.
“Since 2001 to 2002, we have shifted towards the manouverist approach to warfare and this is further being developed to incorporate more seriously, the counter-insurgency aspect of the strategy is done based on our experiences here in Nigeria with the Boko Haram terrorists and indeed by extension, the militancy in the Niger Delta.”
To the graduating students, he said, “As members of the Nigerian Armed Forces, your sense of judgment in applying the skills gotten would be more apparent now that we are confronting a lot of internal security challenges in the country, most especially the menace of Boko Haram which you must brace up to with courage.
“No nation, no matter how powerful, can claim to be an island unto itself in our present world, as most nations are becoming increasingly interdependent, we cannot afford to remain aloof considering our size, population and contributions to the maintenance of peace and security and the Nigerian commitment to international peace will continue to require your service as military observers, staff officers or members of the contingents in multinational operations.”
On his part, the Commandant of the College, Air Vice Marshal Suleiman Dambo said the college reviewed its training curriculum for officers to reflect contemporary security challenges in the country.
He said counter revolutionary strategy, anti-insurgency efforts among other courses had been added to the curriculum of the junior staff course as well as the senior cadre officers training programme.
Dambo added that selected students of the college would be sent to Algeria and Srilanka to understudy the countries’ counter-insurgency efforts, adding that the review would equip young officers with the necessary skills to contend with the challenges of contemporary warfare.
The Commandant urged the 176 graduating students including 90 officers from the Nigerian Army, 40 from Nigerian Navy, 26 from the Nigerian Air Force, 10 non-military and 10 foreign participants of Botswana, Sierra Leone, Niger, The Gambia, Chad, Cameroon, Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania to uphold the tenets of discipline, leadership and commitment which he noted were key in the application of knowledge acquired at the college.
