The Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, on Thursday said the Nigerian Army will continue to respond with full force against gunmen wielding military grade weapons and any security threat in the Southeast and other parts of the country in accordance with laid down procedures.

He stated this at the Headquarters of 6 Division of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, Rivers State while inaugurating projects executed by the division’s General Officer Commanding (GOC), Maj.-Gen. Jamal Abdussalam. He also closed the Chief of Army Staff Second Commanding Officers’ Workshop, which began on Tuesday.

Lagbaja said such a response from the Army against security threats would be swift enough to protect innocent citizens from any harm, adding that he had been on tour of formations and units under the 6 Division since Wednesday.

Major General Onyema Nwachukwu, Director, Army Information, in a statement, quoted the COAS to have stated that- “The Army will continue to respond to all those security threats in accordance with laid down constitutional provisions and the procedures in our book. The soldiers will respond in line with our code of conduct and rules of engagement.

“And so for all threats to security, the Army will respond appropriately. For people, who are carrying military grade weapons openly, troops will respond with force to protect law-abiding citizens, to protect our equipment that they deployed in the population space and to secure their own lives.

“And so what has happened with the attacks on the troops in the past? I believe it is one off thing but the troops will continue to operate within this environment to ensure that peace is sustained”.

On his tour of military formations, he said: “Since yesterday (Wednesday) morning, I have been engaged in a tour of formations and units of the Nigerian Army under the 6 Division area of responsibility.

“I was in Uyo which is the 2nd Brigade area of responsibility. The security situation in this area of responsibility has generally improved; all thanks to the work that our troops are doing and the support of the stakeholders especially the government at the sub national level and other critical stakeholders in our society”.

The Army Chief commended all stakeholders in the region for their support to the troops especially in provision of timely information, even as he thanked the Rivers State Government for providing the enabling environment and logistics support to the troops to operate effectively.

He said further, “I want to assure them that our troops will continue to work to ensure that the security situation is improved upon to achieve the objective of overall economic development and even push into other frontiers across the country.

He said the workshop titled, “Enhancing tactical level command and leadership in a joint environment” was designed to equip commanding officers with requisite skills and competences and enhance their performance in an increasingly complex security environment.

Lagbaja said it was clear from the deliberations conducted during the workshop and the briefs he received that the objectives of the summit had been achieved, saying commanding officers were key in the accomplishment of his command philosophy to transform the Nigerian Army into a well-trained and highly motivated force towards achieving constitutional responsibilities in a joint environment.

He said they were trained to understand their contemporary command environment characterized by technological advancements, social media culture, high population rate and its associated unemployment, amongst others.

Lagbaja further said during the workshop, discussions focused on tactical level command and leadership in the contemporary security environment, implementation of the Nigerian Army’s training directives for 2024, merging administrative issues in units, civil military cooperation, equipment maintenance, digital transformation and innovation and career planning.
Despite some organisational differences, officers he said must cultivate synergy across security stakeholders’ in their operating environment by constantly engaging with key leaders across the divide without compromising security ethics.

“Military administration today is encumbered with new sets of challenges. The impact of social media on your command is enormous and you must avoid the influence of the negative aspect of this new reality on your command.
“You must be mindful of the character of the generation coming into the Nigerian Army and be ingenious in administering the laid down administrative policies and regulations. To do this effectively, I encourage you to keep abreast of technological developments, utilize readily available resources and strengthen information and communication technology training in your units.

He advised that deliberate efforts must be made to continuously identify the tasks, threats and standards required to operate effectively in their respective areas or responsibility in order to reach specific measurable levels of performance.

“As senior training leaders, you must be directly involved in all training activities and take a keen interest in the development of opinion leaders. Training at unit and unit levels requires thorough supervision,” he stated.