The Nigerian Army has charged its officers and men to ensure absolute loyalty to democratic governance, calling on unit commanders of the force to continue to provide leadership and work towards making their personnel understand the need to uphold the tenets of military professionalism.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, who gave the charge, said commanders of unit must be guided by the constitution of the country while ensuring military professionalism.
General Buratai spoke at the graduation ceremony of the Nigerian Army College of Logistics Course 18/2020 urging the force to always observe the rule of law, rules of engagement and human right regulations , while embracing effective civil-military relations in all it’s activities.
Buratai who was represented at the ceremony by the Chief Logistics at the Army Headquarters, Major General Osasogie Uzamere also charged training commanders of the military institutions to develop new ideas and strategies to confront the myriad of challenges confronting the force’s operations.
He said that the Nigerian Army needs new strategies to sustain the successes it has gained against insurgents and reinvigorate its efforts tin resolving the herders-farmers conflict and other criminality in Nigeria.
General Buratai challenged the graduating students to go to the field and exhibit the the knowledge gained from the college of logistics, urging them to make a difference in the various operations of the Nigerian Army.
He said: “It is my belief that the infusion of I44 logisticians yearly into the Armed Forces after undergoing training in this College will certainly make considerable positive impact on NA operations.”
“ I am very much aware of the challenges which NACOL is facing. The Nigerian Army is making frantic efforts to fast track the ongoing construction works at the permanent site to enable the college commence training activities as soon as possible over there.
“I am optimistic that the availability of additional facilities at the permanent site will facilitate the introduction of new courses as including courses for military and civilian strategic leaders, Logistics Supply Chain Management and Procurement Courses among others. The need to increase the number of logisticians trained by the college each year necessitated my approval for the college to retain this Moloney site for its training activities, in addition to increase the slot for each year course from 24 to 36.”
General Buratai said that a fighting army relies on three components, including the conceptual, moral and physical component to win a war, explaining that while the conceptual and moral aspect deal with ideas in fighting and the people that do the actual fighting respectively, the physical component deals with the means to fight.
He said that the careful integration of logistics into military operations will aid the conceptual and moral aspect of a fighting power.
Earlier, the Commandant of the Nigerian Army College of Logistics, Major General Martins Enendu said that the graduating students are well equipped to cope with the challenges of providing efficient logistics support to the Nigerian Army.