By Linus Aleke
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Major General Christopher Gwabin Musa, on Thursday, called for new approach to tackle the emerging security threats, across the country.
The CDS, made this call in Abuja, while, unveiling his leadership concept for Armed Forces of Nigeria.
In a statement he personally signed, the CDS said, the myriads of security challenges which is currently bedeviling, Nigeria calls for a more succinct approach towards mitigating them.
In view of this, the CDS noted that he is committed to ensuring a conducive and secure environment for the protection of lives and properties for socio-economic activities to thrive.
General Musa disclosed that the broad outline of his leadership concept shall be “To Nurture a Professional Armed Forces of Nigeria that is People – Centric, Collaborative and Capable of Meeting its Constitutional Responsibilities in a Joint Environment”.
Accordingly, the CDS added that his leadership concept will be hinged on three pillars which include being people-centric, prioritizing troops’ welfare while deepening jointness and interagency collaboration.
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Explaining what the meant by People Centric Armed Forces of Nigeria, the CDS said: “I recognize the significance of leading the thousands of devoted and distinguished service men and women to provide a secure and peaceful environment for the Nigerian people to freely engage in their legitimate enterprise in line with the constitutional mandate of the AFN. In this regard, the AFN under my leadership will be people-centric by prioritizing and safeguarding our people and their legitimate way of life as prescribed by the Nigerian Constitution. Accordingly, the AFN will apply the lens of people-centricity to key components of activities to truly put the Nigerian people at the centre of its actions geared towards promoting and safeguarding a secure environment for all”.
To achieve this, he said, the AFN will proactively defend our territorial integrity and democracy as well as safeguard internal security and unity to achieve the stability required to guarantee sustainable national development.
On prioritizing troops welfare, he said: “Troops’ welfare and sound administration will provide the required atmosphere for the AFN to deliver on its constitutional responsibilities. Thus, the AFN will continue to seek ways and means to improve the welfare of its personnel under my watch. In this regard, service men and women of the AFN should be reassured of my commitment to their welfare, provision of relevant operational equipment as well as infrastructural development within available resources to enable them to succeed in assigned constitutional roles. The goal will be to promote targeted and specific capacity building, sound administration and efficient resource management amongst others to enhance both individual and collective welfare of AFN personnel. I shall also promote international military cooperation/collaboration to further expose and provide capacity building to AFN personnel in joint and combined operations outside the shores of Nigeria. This measure is required to consolidate on AFN welfare priorities in order to effectively deploy, fight and win our nation’s wars by providing ready, prompt and sustained land, sea and air dominance by the AFN across traditional as well as asymmetric conflict settings as part of a joint force”.
Announcing how he intends to deepen jointness in the AFN, Gen. Musa again explain, “Joint operation which is designed to exploit unity of efforts to seize, retain and maintain the initiative in order to achieve a clearly defined military objective is crucial to the realization of the AFN constitutional duties. I shall, therefore, deepen jointness and prioritize decision making through a shared process of active contribution and consultation across a wide spectrum of our security architecture. This is geared towards ensuring that the AFN is capable of promptly identifying and addressing emerging operational challenges with appropriate methods and capabilities in a timely and efficient manner. In this regard, I shall promote trust, initiative, judgment and creativity among the various services and maintain a channel for proactive engagement in all our interactions. With regard, to other security forces, I shall build bridges by revitalizing communication channels while deepening synergy in the planning and execution of operations within a well- coordinated, joint and multi-agency environment”.
The CDS said, the AFN is poised to fulfil its constitutional roles in order to address evolving security dynamics across the country.
Applauding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for appointing him the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Musa said, his appointment is a clear manifestation of the confidence reposed on him to direct the efforts of the AFN to fulfil its constitutional roles in order to address evolving security dynamics across the country.
He noted that the realization of this critical responsibility elicits a clear leadership concept which will serve as the roadmap supporting the implementation of relevant guiding principles by the AFN.
The significance of this roadmap, he said is to foster a highly disciplined, cohesive and inspired AFN ready to achieve its constitutional roles, facilitate national security and enhance sustainable socio-economic development in the country.
