The Nigerian Army has charged its operational commanders, and those of other security agencies, to ensure effective operational analysis and adaptability in tackling the nation’s security challenges.
The Director Consult, Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), Maj.-Gen. Abubakar Ndalolo, made the call at the opening of a week-long Army Headquarters (AHQ) Garrison Operations Planning Cadre 2024, on Monday in Abuja.
The event has the theme, “Sustaining Capacity Building and Mult-Agency Cooperation: An Approach to Defeating Insurgency and Terrorism in Nigeria.”
He said the security threats facing the country were complex and multifaceted in nature, hence, the need for predictive effort to overcome them.
Ndalolo said the complexities of the security of Nigeria’s environment had affected modern warfighting, which demanded meticulous operational planning to achieve the desired result.
According to him, since contemporary threats transcend the domain of any particular security agency, it is advised that operations planning is best done in a multi agency setting.
He commended the Nigerian Army for recalibrating its cooperation with sister security agencies and paramilitary organisations to ensure the safety and defence of the country.
“Training together, working together, sharing knowledge, and deploying diverse expertise by all the security agencies will help to achieve better outcomes than an individual agency’s effort.
“Let the security agencies refresh themselves with the basics of operational planning and mix implementation.
“Remember, your dedication, professionalism and commitment to keeping our nation secure and safe is a sworn duty we all owe Nigerians,” he said.
Ndalolo said the essence of the cadre was to sharpen the skills of the participants in operational arts and campaign planning, and in a multi-agency setting.
He added that the event would help them to be able to plan and execute operations in a robust manner that would ensure that the mission’s success would be accomplished easily.
“This is possible because the essentials that are required – to analyse, strategise, adapt and react – will be at their fingertips,” he said.
Earlier, the Commander, AHQ Garrison, Maj.-Gen. Koko Isoni, said operations planning played a crucial role in ensuring the success of any military operation.
Isoni said the cadre had brought together tactical and operational level officers from various Nigerian Army formations, sister services, security agencies and paramilitary organisations within AHQ Garrison area of responsibility.
He said the cadre was tailored towards refreshing participants on the various aspects of operations planning process so as to enhance their skills in operational arts and campaign planning.
According to him, the planning cadre is designed to improve participants’ ability to think critically, anticipate potential obstacles, and develop innovative and achievable courses of action to accomplish the operational end state within a joint environment.
“It is crucial to recognise the ever evolving nature of warfare and the challenges we have struggled with where our adversaries are becoming increasingly evasive, innovative and sophisticated.
“But we must adapt accordingly and neutralise them completely in light of their formation.
“Armies world over are continually engaged in training and capacity building to enable them triumph over contemporary security challenges.
“To this end, the Nigerian Army equally recognises these challenges and therefore seeks to develop capacity through realistic training aimed at enhancing its operations.
“Additionally, army headquarters’ garrison experience in various engagements have helped us draw lessons and identify gaps in the conduct of operations.
“To this end, this year’s operations planning cadre is expected to amplify existing efforts by the garrison in collaboration with other sister agencies and paramilitary organisations to meet its operational end state,” he said.