The Nigerian Army has tasked its officers and soldiers to enhance their capacities to tackle the real and emerging security challenges confronting the nation.
The Chief of Training (Army), Maj.-Gen. Abdulsalami Ibrahim, said this during the graduation of participants of Leadership Skills Development Course 3/2022 of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), on Thursday in Abuja.
Ibrahim said the course was aimed at enhancing creativity and critical thinking skills among army personnel to enable them adapt and handle the evolving security challenges facing the country.
He added that the course was designed to assist the participants in developing results oriented leadership perspectives and skills and imbibing emotional intelligence attributes that would be used in addressing security issues.
“As a leader at your level, your ability to think fast, exercise command and control of troops based on value is paramount to the success, growth and development of the Nigerian army.
“It is expected that you will fully imbibe the Chief of Army Staff command philosophy, which rests on four pillars.
“They are professionalism derive from knowledge, discipline and performance as well as readiness, which deals with proactiveness, training and maintenance.
“Other pillars are, administration which recognises welfare and promote merits and finally, cooperation with other sister services and security agencies to counter the current and emerging national security threats.
“You are expected to operate and perform in line with COAS vision, which is “to have a professional Nigerian Army ready to accomplish assigned missions within the joint environment in defense of Nigeria”, he said.
Ibrahim urged the participants to deploy the knowledge and skills acquired from the course to enhance their performance in their areas of responsibility.
The Director-General, NARC, retired Maj.-Gen. Garba Wahab, said the course was not only designed to enhance knowledge but to encourage team work between officers and soldiers of the Nigerian army.
Wahab said the need to encourage cohesion and bridge the observed gaps that existed at operational levels informed the decision to have both the senior and junior cadres in the same class.
According to him, the course has been designed to raise leadership awareness and performance for both junior cadre and mid-level officers of the Nigerian army.
Wahab said the combined course would help officers and soldiers to identify the strength and weaknesses of the person behind or in front of them.
Dr Okey Ikechukwu, Executive Director, Development Specs Academy, said the training expanded beyond the conception of purely operational leadership since every military operation took place in a human environment.
Ikechukwu said the course covered critical thinking, effective decision making, emotional intelligence and mentorship, adding that leadership was having the ability to mentor others.
He said there was need to build a cohesive team at the level of operations to better manage the disconnect between the officers and soldiers.
“So if you have that kind of synergy, naturally, it will impact on operational outcomes,” he said.
The Course Senior, Lt.-Col. Abdulrahaman Ibrahim, thanked Army Headquarters for the opportunity given to them to participate in the leadership development course.
Ibrahim, who spoke on behalf of the participants, said the course had enhanced their skills as well as individual and collective abilities to tackle the security challenges.
He pledged to deploy the knowledge acquired towards achieving the mandate of the Nigerian army.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the course had 44 participants comprising of 15 officers from the rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel and 29 soldiers. (NAN)
