By Augustine Ehikioya
Backed by the experiences of many active years at the forefront of various military operations against crimes and criminality, the appointment of Lieutenant General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of the Nigerian Army did not surprise those who knew him.
Lagbaja, who stepped into the ‘big shoes’ left behind by the former COAS, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai (Rtd) down to the immediate past COAS, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya (Rtd), has not let the nation down in his new assignment.
Having been appointed as the 23rd COAS on the 19th of June 2023 by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and assumed office on the 23rd of June, 2023, Gen Lagbaja has not allowed himself to be distracted from his duties from day one.
With his Command Philosophy, “To transform the Nigerian Army into a well-trained, equipped, and highly motivated force towards achieving our constitutional responsibilities within a joint environment”, the Army Chief’s total focus has been on how to protect the territorial integrity, sovereignty of Nigeria and ensure peaceful atmosphere for development.
In his first 150 days in office, the COAS, in support of civil authority, has matched his determinations with actions by using his Command Philosophy to revolutionize and position the Nigerian Army to effectively combat terrorism, insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and other threats of criminality across the country.
To ensure that the set goals are accurately achieved, Gen. Lagbaja went further to ensure that his command philosophy was guided by six main principles of character, commitment, competence, courage, communication, and compassion.
Lagbaja also went on to ensure that his six Command Philosophy principles were supported by three main pillars of leadership, operational effectiveness, and sound administration.
Effectively carrying out his assignment in the past 150 days, the Army Chief has flagged off various operations across the country for the Nigerian Army to practice troops in new concepts developed from lessons learnt from past and current operations, and using the opportunity to confront the most serious security challenges and threats in the different geopolitical zones.
Many of these operations are already showing impressive performances.
In the North East Theatre, the Nigerian Army troops, under him, are engaged in operations named Operation DESERT SANITY II and Operation LAKE SANITY II.
Major focus of these operations is to neutralize and eliminate terrorist elements in the Sambisa Forest, other land areas, and the Lake Chad region.
Still in the Zone, Operation MOUNTAIN SANITY is in place and has continued to dislodge terrorists from the mountain range in Southern Borno.
As a result of these efforts, a total of 104,842 terrorists and their families have surrendered in the North East, including 18,873 fighters and men, 32,124 women, and 5,845 children.
To accurately categorize most male surrenderees, they are undergoing profiling and being camped according to their status.
Besides more than 92 Boko Haram and ISWAT terrorists neutralized by troops in the past 3 months under Gen. Lagbaja, over 238 civilians have been rescued from captivity in the period, including 9 Chibok girls, since May 2023, bringing the total number of rescued Chibok girls to 131.
Specially to create a conducive environment for socio-economic activities to flourish during coming Yuletide season, the exercises flagged off by Gen. Lagbaja to combat diverse emerging security challenges peculiar to the South South, South East, South West, and North Central, and the Federal Capital Territory, included Exercises STILL WATERS III, GOLDEN DAWN III, and ENDURING PEACE III.
While exercise STILL WATERS III is designed to tackle problems such as piracy, illegal bunkering, pipeline vandalism, cultism, militancy, and other related issues in the South-South and South-West zones, exercise GOLDEN DAWN III is aimed at combating the scourge of secessionist agitations, kidnapping, cultism, and other acts of criminality prevalent in the South East.
For the exercise codenamed ENDURING PEACE, it is ongoing in parts of the North Central States and the Federal Capital Territory to tackle the peculiar security challenges in the area.
Preventing unexpected harm from coming to Nigerians, the Army Chief also directed the Nigerian Army Engineers to clear the remnants of the 2002 Ikeja Cantonement Bomb Blast.
To this end, exercise CLEAN SWEET was flagged off by Gen. Lagbaja to recover various calibres of unexploded ordinance.
A remarkable 642 unexploded ordinances were professionally disposed at the Nigerian Army Range Owode under Gen. Lagbaja’s tenure.
Gen. Lagbaja also introduced exercise RESTORE HOPE to enhance personnel capability to endure the emerging demands of current military operations, and to adapt personnel who freshly passed out of Depot Nigerian Army to the challenges posed by the ever-changing nature of threats within Nigeria’s security environment.
Under the exercise, the personnel are conducting special missions such as rappelling and insertions operations deep into enemies lines to carry out rescue missions and raids.
This also aims at giving training aids top priority while other tactical training such as combat sports competitions, combat proficiency, and seminars and workshops were upgraded to ensure the Nigerian Army has a strong and capable leadership structure to effectively guide and motivate personnel.
It is important to note that the support of the Federal Government to the Nigerian Army, under Lagbaja, has immensely boosted the conduct and sustenance of the various operations in the country and led to the achievements recorded so far.
The Tinubu Administration had supported the Nigerian Army in the form of efficient procurement and induction of military hardware and software across the theater of Operations.
The Government had purchased over 2,000 new platforms and acquisition of combat enablers for the Nigerian Army.
One of such platforms was the recently commissioned 10-gun boats in Port Harcourt, Rivers State to improve the operational readiness and capability of the Nigerian Army in the riverine area and to rejig amphibious operations in the Niger Delta region.
Government’s intervention also included the recent operationalization of Nigerian Army Aviation with the procurement of a MD-530 Cayuse.
Over time, the aviation outfit will have a significant positive impact on the ground troops’ agility, responsiveness, and efficiency while at the same time contributing to the overall operational success of the joint and coalition forces.
The Nigerian Aviation component will also enhance the ability of the Nigerian Army to deploy troops, supplies, and equipment to various locations, especially in remote or difficult terrains, and to respond to disasters.
To mitigate the impact of improvised explosive devices on casualty rate of troops and damages to high-value assets in the ongoing counter-terrorism and insurgency operations in the North East, the Federal Government has also approved the procurement of the Husky Counter-Improvised Explosives Device.
The device, which is regarded as a military working dog because of its detective capacity, has an exceptional sense of smell that allows it to detect the presence of explosives that may be hidden or disguised.
The Government also supported the COAS towards fulfilling one of the pillars of his Command Philosophy pledge for sound administration by facilitating initiation of tangible welfare packages to keep the morale of Army personnel high while carrying out their constitutional duties.
The Federal Government’s intervention in that direction included clearance of over Eighteen Billion Naira (N18,000,000,000.00) backlog of Group Life Insurance Scheme payments to the Next of Kins of deceased personnel.
Apart from scholarships for children and wards of deceased personnel who paid the supreme price, Government also approved the implementation of upscaling educational facilities in Command Secondary Schools and the Nigerian Military School Zaria in order to bring back the glorious days of Nigerian Army Schools.
The Government, under Lagbaja, also introduced the Nigerian Army Accident Insurance Scheme to boost morale of drivers, while it sustained the free welfare flights for troops at the frontline.
The Army Chief, under his tenure, has also ensured that personnel wounded in action get access to top-notch medical evacuation treatment, locally and overseas.
To further boost the morale of the troops, the Nigerian Army has also commenced selling forms to interested soldiers for an affordable House Ownership Option for all Soldiers Scheme.
For more conducive working and living conditions for troops and their families, the Government, under Lagbaja, has given approval for the execution of other numerous projects.
Some of such projects included the recently commissioned 30 blocks of flats, 3 renovated and remodeled 12 units of Corporal and Below Quarters in 174 Battalion, and a fire station at Bonny Cantonment.
Others are the newly constructed Headquarters Central Ordnance Depot Administrative Office Complex to provide requisite logistics support to troops in the front line, Twin Regimental Sergeant Majors Quarters in Port Harcourt, the Ordnance Tailoring Factory, a remodeled Corpers’ Lodge, and a new office complex to accommodate the Headquarters 26 Support Engineer Regiment, among others, all in Ibadan.
Due to his high regards for troops, Gen. Lagbaja’s first duty call, at the beginning of his tenure, was to visit troops at the epicenter of the ongoing counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operation in the North East code named Operation HADIN KAI, to assess their state of readiness and to physically see them to know how they were fairing towards improving their situations.
Encouraging easy access to him and to boost inclusiveness within the Nigerian Army, Gen. Lagbaja, right from inception, has urged all personnel, irrespective of rank or appointment, to feel free to approach him with their concerns, ideas and suggestions.
Three months down the lane, this open policy is said to have assisted in fostering dissemination of critical updates, instructions and guidance to the entire Service.
While the steps taken by Gen. Lagbaja in the last 150 days are believed to be in the right direction, it is hoped that everything will be done to sustain them and ensure the Nigerian Army continues to excel in every aspect of its constitutional duties.
There should be no room for laxity in any form in order not to lose grounds gained by the Nigerian Army in its various operations across the country.
In the shortest possible time, well-meaning Nigerians want to applaud the roles of the Nigerian Army, in collaboration with other security agencies, to ending terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other crimes in Nigeria.
