The Nigerian Army has assured that it will not fail the citizenry in delivering on its constitutional mandate to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nation, as well as provide support to civil authority in mitigating threats to national security.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, gave the assurance on Friday while addressing troops at a fire power demonstration phase of the army’s exercise christened ‘Mugun Bugu’, held in Kontagora, Niger State.
Speaking further, the COAS disclosed that the exercise was the first of its kind, where all combat arms and combat support arms of the Nigerian Army Training Schools came together for a final joint training exercise.
A press statement signed by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, quoted Yahaya as saying that training was key to professionalism, describing it as one of the pillars of his philosophy of command.
The Army chief added that it was only through training that troops could internalise, practise and perfect the employment of skills and competences, along with requisite equipment, communication and other enablers for the effective conduct of operations and discharge of the constitutional mandate of the Nigerian Army.
The army chief added that the combined exercise would ensure effective and result-oriented training that would incorporate multimodal training activities aimed at tackling contemporary security challenges, as well as eclipsing threats that may arise in future.
The General urged the troops to put lessons learnt from the exercise into practice in their respective formations and units, as they tackled threats to national security.
Also speaking during the exercise, the Commander, Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Major-General Stevenson Olabanji, stated that the command would continue to engage in training activities geared towards supporting the Army to actualise its drive for a professional and responsive army.
