Nigeria Army chief blames troops' "lack of commitment" for resurgence of Boko Haram violence
Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) – Amidst escalating violence by the Boko Haram terrorist group in northeast Nigeria, the country’s Chief Of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai on Tuesday blamed the resurgence on lack of commitment by officers and soldiers on the frontline of counterinsurgency operations and other security engagements in the country.
Saying that there are proven cases of lack of willingness on the part of the troops to carry out their assignments as directed, Buratai stated that professional capacity alone was not a sufficient condition to succeed in a task, but that the willingness to perform the task was of the utmost importance.
In the last few weeks, there has been an upsurge in Boko Haram suicide attacks and overrunning of military bases in the northeast region.
Speaking at the opening of a five-day transformational leadership workshop for middle level officers and soldiers at the Nigeria Army Resource Centre, Abuja, the Army Chief warned those not willing to perform their duties to get out of the way as the Army would no longer tolerate them.
According to Buratai, “it is unfortunate. But the truth is that almost every setback the Nigerian Army has had in our operations in recent times can be traced to insufficient willingness to perform assigned tasks. Many of those on whom the responsibility for physical actions against the adversary squarely falls are yet to fully take ownership of our common national cause.
“I, therefore, believe that the transformational leadership workshops will again remind and clarify to participants what our President and Commander in Chief meant by: 'This generation and indeed, future generations of Nigerians have no other country but Nigeria, we must remain here and salvage it together.' The President’s exhortation, though about 35 years old, is still relevant today given as we see in some cases that apathy has even increased among the younger generations.”
Stating that addressing the problem was why the Army was organising the programme aptly themed: “Lead, follow or get out of the way,” General Buratai noted that “transformational leadership programmes are solely designed to imbue in leaders, the consciousness and respect for the unique value of their nation and institutions through which they render service to their nation.
“The AHQ DATI (Army Headquarters Department of Army Transformation and Innovation) Transformational Leadership Workshop is clearly and explicitly designed to teach transformational leadership values to the next generation of Nigeria Army leaders (officers and soldiers). It would also establish a platform for subsequent mentoring of participants after the workshop, hence the theme has been aptly chosen as “lead, follow or get out of the way.”
Buratai noted that the Nigerian Army had good successes over the years in the grooming of military leaders and “this is evident in the many successes that the Army has achieved in our operations and the high performance of our personnel in international/multinational operations or other military duties.
“But we all know that professional capacity is not a sufficient condition to succeed in a task; willingness to perform the task is equally necessary. With the calibre, capacities and proven commitment of the resource persons selected to drive this workshop is an attestation to its high importance. I urge every participant to put the highest level of seriousness to achieve the full objectives of this workshop and ensure that the precious time and efforts of this calibre of resource persons are not wasted.”
Also speaking, the Chief of Transformation and Innovation (COTI), Major General Felix Abugo, said the workshop was aimed at highlighting the values of communal dependency, communal surveillance and communal enforcement, as against the dangers of individualism and sycophancy among military professionals.
According to him, the workshop will expose participants to a number of things in Nigeria that they can take pride in.
It will interrogate the understanding of service, sacrifice and honour among the participants and provide them with worthy examples to emulate.
Furthermore, he said, it will work out ways to institutionalize mentorship as a framework for raising leaders as well as the environment/tools necessary for mentorship in the Army.
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