Lieutenant-General-Tukur-Yusuf-Buratai
Insufficient Commitment by
Lieutenant-General-Tukur-Yusuf-Buratai
Insufficient Commitment by Troops on Frontlines Affect
Army Operations- Buratai
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf
Buratai, has provided reason why the Nigerian Army (NA) sometimes
fail to record any meaningful success in military operations
launched to tackle criminalities in the country.
“It is unfortunate. But the truth is, almost every setback the
NA has had in our operations in recent times can be traced to
insufficient willingness to perform assigned tasks, or simply
insufficient commitment to a common national/military course by
those at the frontlines. 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 or service cause,”
he said.
Buratai, made the disclosure while speaking at Mambilla Barracks
in Abuja, venue of the ‘Army Headquarters Transformational
Workshop’. He pointed out that the NA has recorded huge success
over the years in the grooming of military leaders.
He noted that professional capacity is not a sufficient
condition to succeed in a task; willingness to perform the task is
equally necessary.
The event, which was organized by the Nigerian Army Department
of Transformation and Innovation (DATI) for mid-level officers and
soldiers, was themed: “Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way”.
The COAS stated that military leadership skills equip personnel
with the capacity to control and care for members of their group
from the lowest tactical to the highest operational level
(Sect-DHQ).
“We all know that leadership is core to military
professionalism; hence all military professional courses include
aspects of military leadership skills acquisition. However, the
leadership programmes are mainly designed to build capacities that
enhance the intellectual and physical components of a fighting
force: the “How” we fight and the “What” we fight with,” he
added.
Lt. Gen. Buratai, explained that the transformational workshop is
clearly and explicitly designed to teach/preach transformational
leadership values to the next generation of NA leaders (officers
and soldiers).
He said: “The August workshop, 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”.
Host of the event, Major General Felix Akubo, revealed that the
workshop will work out ways to institutionalize mentorship as a
framework for raising leaders, as well as the environment/tools
necessary for mentorship in the NA.
Gen. Akubo, who is the Army’s Chief of Transformation and
Innovation, further stated that the capacity-building training will
expose participants to a number of things in the country which they
can take pride in, thus clarifying the imperatives of patriotic
citizenship and national loyalty, even in the face of globalization
and emerging technologies.
“The workshop will aim to highlight the values of communal
surveillance and enforcement, as against the dangers of
individualism and sycophancy (eye-service) among military
professionals,” he added.
The Chief of Transformation and Innovation, disclosed that plans
are already in the pipeline to organize similar workshop in Kaduna,
Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Maiduguri and Enugu.
By PRNigeria