The Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor has described the War Colleges of the Army, Navy and Airforce as veritable assets who always come in handy in developing plans and strategies that enables optimization of available operational resources towards achieving national military objectives.
Speaking at the opening of the second Joint Operations Planning Exercise for the Services War Colleges in Abuja code named ‘Exercise Sky Lock 2022”, the CDS commended the war colleges are sustaining the ideals of Joint Operation Planning Exercises (JOPEX) noting that it will surely institutionalize a culture of joint planning, training and collective efforts in security operations.
Accrding to him, “The idea of the JOPEX for the war colleges was conceived in order to enhance jointness among the services during planning and execution phases of operations.
“This second edition of the exercise which is built around contemporary, realistic and real-time security events in Nigeria and beyond marks the culmination of several months of significant efforts made towards developing the skills of participants of the 3 war colleges in operational art, operational design and decision-making process, amongst others.
“It is certainly another milestone in the professional military education trajectory of the Nigerian military in the quest to properly equip our officers for present and future assignments.
Continuing the CDS said, “As think tanks of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, the war colleges are indeed the laboratories and incubation centers for the production of military operational level plans as well as for measurement of performance and effectiveness of subsisting plans with a view to revising them for enhanced effectiveness.
“To this end, the product of this Joint Operations Planning Exercise will form part of the military strategic decisions for some ongoing and future operations. This underscores the significance of this exercise and the resources committed to its actualization.
“Today’s event therefore demonstrates the ability of the war colleges to ensure they maintain an enduring tradition that would enshrine joint planning culture at the military operational leadership level.
“This culture is indeed essential to the development of operational level capacity towards tackling the multifarious contemporary security challenges and for future military operations.
“The complex 21st Century security environment holds huge implications not only for the military but also for all sectors of governance and society.
“The contemporary security environment weaves through all levels of organizational decision-making systems that cut across international and cultural boundaries. It is gratifying therefore to observe the diverse array of participants from the military and security agencies as well as allied foreign military officers that would be participating in this exercise.
“Against this backdrop, I am convinced that the knowledge, skills and capacities, you, the participants have acquired particularly in operational art, will enhance your professional judgment in a joint operating environment and would remain an indelible resource of your problem solving and decision-making loops.
“Considering this, you will be doing yourselves and our dear countries a lot of good by keeping the acquired skills up to date through continuous learning. Let me stress that you would need to keep an open-mind and take calculated risks as this would be key to your effective functioning in the contemporary complex security environment.
“One area we expect such open-mindedness is in proffering workable solutions to the myriad of security challenges facing the nation such as in the North East, North West and North Central as well as other areas affected by insecurity.
“As you all are aware, the military is currently engaged in internal security operations in most of the 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT. This has put strain on available resources committed to ongoing CTCOIN operations in the NE and indeed other parts of the country.
“It is my opinion therefore, that the war colleges always come in handy in developing plans and strategies that would enable optimization of available resources towards achieving our national military objectives. It is therefore important and gratifying that the war colleges are sustaining the ideals of Joint Operation Planning Exercises such as this.
In his welcome address, the Commandant Army War College Nigeria, Major General Bamidele Alabi disclosed that the conduct of this second Joint Operations Planning Exercise is one of the milestones to promote understanding and collaboration not only between the Colleges but also to enhance jointness in our armed forces as a whole.
Alabi reiterated that the conduct of the Joint Operations Planning Exercises for two consecutive years underscores the Chief of Defence Staff efforts to promote jointness within the armed forces and with other security agencies and in line with the vision of the Chief of Defence Staff adding that participants of the Colleges could benefit more through deliberate efforts to promote joint academic activities amongst the Colleges.
He enjoined the 112 participants, comprising of 73 from Nigerian Army, 22 from Nigerian Navy and 17 from Nigerian Air Force and other from allied countries like Cameroon, Congo Brazaville, Uganda, Cameroon, Gambia and Para-military organizations to devote themselves to the exercise as they stand to benefit from their interactions with other participants while seeking viable options for the employment of land, maritime and air power in a joint environment to solve problems brought out during the exercise.
Alabi expressed the hope that at the end of the Joint Operations Planning Exercise 2022, the exercise objectives will not only have been attained but its lessons also imbibed by all.
The highlight of the Joint Operation Planning Exercise for the Services War Colleges, Exercise SKY LOCK 2022 was delivered by Director of Studies and Deputy Commandant, Brigadier General UM Alkali.
Present at the opening ceremony were the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Faruk Yahaya, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao and the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major General Adebayo. Also present were Principal Staff Officers from the Defence and Service headquarters as well as Commandants of the Navy and Airforce War Colleges.
Source: The Vanguard
