The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, has reiterated his commitment to promoting joint operation planning toward tackling the multifarious contemporary security challenges bedeviling the nation.
Irabor said this at the opening of the 2022 Defence Headquarters Joint Operation Exercise (JOPEX) tagged; “Exercise Sky Lock’’ for participants of the Army, Naval and Air Force War Colleges on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said the idea of JOPEX for war colleges was conceived to enhance collaboration among the services during planning and execution phases of operations.
The chief of defence staff said the second edition of JOPEX was built around contemporary, realistic and real-time security events in Nigeria and beyond.
He said the exercise marked the culmination of several months of significant efforts made toward developing the skills of participants of the three war colleges in operational art, design and decision-making process among 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.
“As think-tanks of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, the war colleges are indeed the laboratories and incubation centres for the production of military operational level plans.
“They are also 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 exercise will form part of the military strategic decisions for some ongoing and future operations.’’
According to him, this underscores the significance of this exercise and the resources committed to its actualisation.
“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 toward tackling the multifarious contemporary security challenges and for future military operations,” he said.
Irabor said the complex 21st century security environment had huge implications not only for the military but also for all sectors of governance and society.
He expressed optimism that the knowledge, skills and capacities that the participants had acquired in operational art would enhance their professional judgment in a joint operating environment.
The chief of defence staff said the knowledge would also remain an indelible resource of their problem solving and decision-making loops.
According to him, considering this, participants will be doing themselves and the country a lot of good by keeping the acquired skills up to date through continuous learning.
He urged them to keep an open-mind and take calculated risks, adding that it would be key to their 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 North East 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 optimisation of available resources toward 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,” he said.
The Commandant, Army War College Nigeria (AWCN), Maj.-Gen. Bamidele Alabi, said that JOPEX underscored the efforts of the colleges to promote collaboration within the armed forces and with other security agencies.
Alabi said the primary mandate of the service war colleges was to build the capacity of operational level leaders in the armed forces in the management of war.
He said that the colleges also had the mandate to develop the basic strategic skills of officers in the employment of military power across different domains and operating environments.
According to him, in the nearly six years since inception of the war colleges, the contributions of the alumni to ongoing military efforts to address challenges of insecurity in the country have indeed justified their establishment.
He said the participants of the colleges could benefit more through deliberate efforts to promote joint academic activities among the colleges in line with the vision of the Chief of Defence Staff.
“In this regard, the defence headquarters has been taking important steps and regular training assessment visits.
“Similarly, the services have been complementing defence headquarters’ efforts by providing excellent facilities that facilitate learning, collaboration and linkages within and between the colleges.
“The conduct of this second JOPEX is one of the milestones to promote understanding and collaboration not only between the colleges but also to enhance joint operation in our armed forces as a whole,” he said.
The highlight of the exercise showed that there were 122 participants drawn from the three services’ colleges comprising 74 from Army War College; 22 from Naval War College and 17 from Air Force War College.
There were also participants from allied foreign countries and other security agencies such as the Nigeria Police Force, and the Department of States Services (DSS).
Others were the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
