By CHARLES IWUOHA

Maj.-Gen. Umar Musa, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, says that the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, places high premium on training and retraining of personnel.

“Training and retraining of personnel will lead to effective tackling of insecurity in the country,” Musa said on Monday while declaring open the 82 Division Operations Planning Cadre 2022 in Enugu.

The theme of the five-day cadre training programme is: “Capacity Building at Tactical Level Operational Planning within a Joint Environment”.

The GOC said that the main objective of the cadre training was to churn out well-trained personnel that would efficiently confront the prevailing security challenges bedeviling the country.

According to him, training/retraining is one of the key pillars of COAS’s vision which is ‘To Have a Professional Nigerian Army Ready to Accomplish Assigned Mission within a Joint Environment in the Defence of Nigeria’.

“The cadre (training) is aimed at availing participants the necessary capabilities and competences that they require to successfully plan current and future operations while providing the opportunity to promote synergy and inter-agency cooperation with sister services.

“As you are all aware, the security challenges we face today are both real and daunting; it therefore require a renewed vigor by commanders at all levels to tackle.

“It is in realisation of this fact and consistent with the COAS Vision that this operational planning is organised by the 82 Division.

“I, therefore, urge you (participants) all to apply yourselves to all that you will be taught in this cadre by tapping from the wealth of knowledge and experiences of the resources persons in order for you to apply same in the field,” he said.

Musa said that the topics and resource persons had been carefully selected and designed to reflect current realities on the ground as well as to enable participants derive maximum benefits from the cadre (training).

He noted that the training had been deliberately tailored to focus on military decision-making process, combat estimate, logistics planning, legal consideration in operation in contemporary security environment and counter Improvised Explosive Device (IED) measures amongst others.

“Finally, I will like to use this opportunity to thank the COAS for the strategic direction and financial support that he provided for this cadre (training) without which this would not have been possible,” he said.

The training is been attended by participants from other sister security formations, which included: Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Others are: Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Customs Service, Department of Security Services, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Federal and State Fire Services as well as the Neighbourhood Watch Group all within the Division’s Area of Responsibility.

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