The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt General Tukur Buratai has expressed concern as military engagements increased across the country amidst dwindling resources, saying that there is the urgent need for pro-active measures to address the gap.
“Against this backdrop, we have no option than to get thinking as to how we can achieve our goals despite the national economic recession we are experiencing,” Buratai said against the backdrop of the security challenges in the country and the need to match them with the little resources available.
He said following this development it has become imperative for Commanding Officers, Commandant of Military Training Institutions and other Principal Officers to go through capacity building mechanism to become creative, innovative and resourceful.
General Buratai made the remarks while declaring open a two-day workshop for General Officers’ Commanding (GOC), Corps Commanders, and Commandant of Nigerian Army Schools at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, (NARC) Abuja.
He said though the Boko Haram insurgents group had been successfully degraded, while peace and tranquility had been restored into parts of the troubled areas, the workshop with the theme “Leadership and Resource Management in the Nigerian Army” was necessary to fine turn the skills and knowledge of the Officers.
Represented by the Commandant of Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Major General Rasheed Yusuf, the Army Chief said: “despite the success we have recorded, I have observed that there is a gap in the level of creativity, innovation and resourcefulness amongst commanders.
“More so, we are operating in a time of national economic recession whereby there is paucity of fund due to dwindling budgetary allocation. Conversely, the nation’s security challenges are increasing by the day thereby widening our operational engagements across the country.
“Against this backdrop, we have no option than to get thinking as to how we can achieve our goals despite the national economic recession we are experiencing.
“Thus the imperative of reorienting and sensitizing commanders and leaders on the need to be creative, innovative and resourceful in the discharge of their command responsibilities”.
In his remarks, the Director General of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre,(NARC) Major General John Hamakin lauded the COAS for approving the workshop in line with the vision of the present leadership of the army to build a truly professional force capable of responding to the security issues effectively and efficiently.
Major General Hamakin said: “It is pertinent to state that this workshop was conceptualized in line with COAS directive, which was borne out of the fact that despite the successes we have recorded in our various operational engagements particularly in the Northeast, there seems to be an apparent gap in the level of creativity, innovation and resourcefulness amongst commanders in the military and other security agencies.
“This concern became more pertinent given the realities of the economic down-turn we are facing with the attendant implication on shrinking of resources being allocated to the military and other key stakeholders in the security architecture.
“This reality therefore calls for creativity, innovation and resourcefulness on the part of military leadership in various field of command if we are to succeed”, General Hamakin asserted.