The Minister of Defense Major General Bashir Magashi (rtd) has authorized the establishment of Committee to conduct a fundamental review of how the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is structured and managed, most notably the service within a single defence framework.
Major General Magashi (rtd) who stated this while delivering a paper titled “Nigeria and the Challenges of Hybrid Warfare” at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru Plateau State said the initiative should drive organizational decisions on jointness in capabilities, force structure and conceptual developments and come up also with a roadmap to guide the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) into preparing for a much more encompassing interpretation of the conflict.
“An organization that will be simpler and more cost-effective, with clear allocation of responsibility, authority and accountability is what I want. We are also on track to re-equip and work with the academia as well as local engineering firms on innovation and maintenance” he disclosed.
He added that the multidimensional and asymmetric nature of hybrid warfare presents a huge challenge to state actor of which the Armed Forces of Nigeria is part of.
“It is thus apparent that the security framework of the country is not adequately driven by robust intelligence and therefore security agencies mostly react to activities of terrorists and criminals within contested zones.
“While it is easy to lay the blame on the doorsteps of the security agencies, certain factors such as internal divides, high level of poverty, religious intolerance, population bulge amongst others are beyond military solutions,” he said.
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Answering questions from the participants, the Minister who was represented by his Special Assistant Technical on Armed Forces Major General Ahmed Tijani Jibril (rtd) said joint operation among security agencies to arrest the insecurity in the country remains one of the potent ways of arresting the various security challenges confronting the country.
Said he:” Inter Agencies corporations are very necessary, it is very effective at the junior level, they have come together in the past for an operation and they performed excellently well. The problem is at the top as everyone wants to claim credit and superiority, this is doing more harm than good”
However, the Chief of Defense Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin in his paper titled “Hybrid Warfare and challenges of Joint Operations” pointed out that Nigeria is currently confronted with security challenges ranging from terrorism, insurgency, armed banditry, kidnapping, farmer/herders conflicts, sophisticated armed robbery, illegal bunkering, vandalism and militancy.
He added that the complexities of the threats were further heightened by the porous borders which facilitated the unchecked movement of criminal’s elements, small arms and light weapons as well as other contraband items from the neighbouring countries into Nigeria.
“These combined factors with resultant negative effects on the socio-economic development in the country have necessitated that hybrid warfare and joint operations efforts in Nigeria”
General Olonisakin who said the operations have continued to stabilize the security situation across the country added that inspite of the efforts there are still some gap with regard to prosecuting hybrid warfare and joint operations adding that the gap was in the areas of information management, interoperability and coordination among others
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