By Olayemi Esan
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Faruk Yahaya said the Nigerian Army would be focusing on developing capacities for improved performances of its personnel across board in 2022.
The Yahaya made this disclosure at the closing ceremony of the 2021 Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference held at the Army Headquarters Command Officers Mess, Abuja on Friday.
He said emphasis will be placed on individual and unit training that will enhance teamwork and professionalism.
The Army Chief urged Commandants of Nigerian Army and Corps schools to ensure they conduct realistic training in their various institutions to ensure that officers and soldiers are equipped with the right skills and competencies to confront all criminal elements in the various theatres of operations.
He directed formation and unit commanders on the need to ensure systematic inspection of arms and ammunition as well as the various holding facilities.
"The directive on the new procedure for the conduct of range classification exercise has been communicated to all participants for compliance. Thus, commanders must ensure that units under command adopt this new procedure which is aimed at ensuring accountability and security of controlled items in the Nigerian Army.
"In the conduct of our operations, commanders must be proactive and aggressive in order to defeat the adversary. Let me state at this point that we must ensure all our deployments in the theatres of operations are held in strength to defeat any attack" he added.
The COAS noted that Commanders must also look at the possibilities of conducting wide range of operations against bandits and terrorists.
Furthermore, commanders must ensure that their troops master the art of night operations and anti-ambush drills by engaging in effective night operations and anti-ambush drill training.
"We must take the fight to the adversary in order to neutralize and defeat them. Commanders are also urged to develop contingency plans to ensure our forces always retain the initiative in all our theatres of operation. In that vein, commanders must plan for the possible increase in scope and dimension of the activities of violent state actors in the coming year", he said.
General Yahaya urged all commanders to remain committed and determined to positively change the tide of events with respect to insecurity in the country.
He therefore reiterated that the Nigerian Army, under his leadership will remain loyal to President Buhari, adding that, the Nigerian Army, within the ambit of rule of law, will continue to ensure that all peace-loving citizens of this Country go about their legitimate businesses and live their lives without fear or intimidation.
Yahaya said, he is convinced that the Conference with the theme 'Building Nigerian Army Capacity in Combating Emerging Security Threats in a Joint Operations Environment' has provided the much needed direction towards building capacity of the Nigerian Army to accomplish assigned missions within a joint environment in defence of Nigeria.
