Falling commanders: Nigeria’s defence needs

NIGERIA is losing not just soldiers but the very commanders who hold the frontline together in the fight against insurgency. When those entrusted with leading from the front keep falling, it is a clear signal that something in Nigeria’s defence strategy must urgently change. Every time a Nigerian battalion commander falls in battle, the nation loses far more than a name in a casualty report. A battalion commander is not just another officer in uniform. He is the senior tactical leader whom hundreds, sometimes thousands, of soldiers look up to in moments of danger. He walks ahead during assaults and holds firm during defensive operations. He is the one who must inspire confidence when bullets begin to fly. When such men and women are lost repeatedly in the fight against insurgency in the North-East, the country must pause and reflect. Something is clearly not right. When such a commander falls, the military does not merely lose a rank or a number. Soldiers lose the man who had learnt, through shared danger, how to keep them alive.

In recent months, Nigeria has filled too many of those empty chairs. Another position attacked. Another convoy ambushed. Another commanding officer lost. A nation that repeatedly loses the very officers entrusted with leading troops into battle cannot pretend that everything about its defence posture is functioning as it should. These losses are not random. They reflect a war that has changed shape while parts of the response appear slower to adjust. Boko Haram and its splinter factions have evolved from attempts to hold territory. Their fighters now move quickly, strike isolated positions, exploit terrain, and withdraw before a heavy response can be organised. Mobility, surprise, and deep familiarity with the terrain have become their advantage. The question Nigeria must ask itself is whether its own military system has been allowed to evolve at the same pace.

READ ALSO: Over 1,000 insurgency groups operating in Africa — Gambari

This is where the responsibility of government becomes unavoidable. Nigeria now has a new Minister of Defence, a man whose experience and service command genuine respect. Yet respect alone cannot secure the battlefield. Soldiers operating in the forests of Borno or along the difficult approaches of the Lake Chad region are less concerned with credentials than with whether decisions taken in Abuja translate into protection and advantage in the field. Leadership must ensure that policy is not detached from the realities soldiers confront daily. One of the most pressing issues lies in the mismatch between the nature of the conflict and the tools deployed to fight it. The war in the North-East is asymmetric. It demands mobility, rapid intelligence, counter-IED capability, effective surveillance, and small units equipped to dominate difficult terrain. If the Tables of Equipment still reflect assumptions rooted in conventional warfare, soldiers may find themselves confronting insurgents who are lighter, faster, and better adapted to the environment. Courage alone cannot correct that imbalance.

It must be said clearly that courage is not what Nigeria’s soldiers lack. The men and women on the frontlines have repeatedly demonstrated bravery under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Reports of retreats or abandoned positions under intense pressure, if accurate, should not be reduced to accusations of cowardice. They point instead to deeper questions about morale, confidence, and the assurance that the institution behind them will not fail. Soldiers must believe that their equipment will not betray them, that reinforcements will come when needed, and that their lives matter to the nation they defend.

Morale is not a secondary issue. It is central to operational effectiveness. Special life-assurance policies, improved welfare arrangements, and stronger institutional backing are not gestures of sympathy: they are practical measures that strengthen the confidence of troops facing danger daily. A soldier who trusts the system behind him fights with a very different spirit from one who feels abandoned by it. Nigeria’s history offers proof that the country possesses the capability to confront violent crises when leadership, logistics, and strategy align. Nigerian troops once played decisive roles in stabilising conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone, demonstrating professionalism and resilience that earned international respect. That record is not merely a point of pride; it is evidence that insurgency is not an impossible challenge when the national system functions as it should.

The persistence of the conflict in the North-East therefore raises uncomfortable but necessary questions about the broader structures surrounding the war. Long conflicts often generate networks of contractors and bureaucratic arrangements that become permanent features of the landscape. Over time, some of these structures begin to acquire a quiet interest in the continuation of the crisis itself. When operations seem endless and task forces created years earlier never conclude their mandates, the public is entitled to ask whether the system has grown too comfortable with the status quo. Ordinary Nigerians feel the weight of these questions deeply. Communities in Borno, Yobe and other affected areas have lived under the shadow of violence for years. Families with sons and daughters in uniform follow every news report with quiet dread. When a military base is overrun or a commander falls, it is not an abstract headline. It is the possibility of a phone call no family ever wishes to receive.

Responsibility for confronting this reality rests squarely with leadership. The President, as Commander-in-Chief, and the Minister of Defence must ensure that Nigeria’s Defence Strategy reflects the realities of modern conflict. Procurement must match battlefield needs. Training must reflect the terrain and tactics of this war, not outdated assumptions. Nigeria must also consider calling up its reserves, as provided for in the Terms and Conditions of Service, to support logistics and strengthen operational depth. Experienced veterans should be engaged to assess whether weapons and equipment supplied truly match battlefield requirements. The falling of commanders should never become routine news. Each loss is a painful reminder that the stakes of this war are human lives. The officers who have fallen actually deserve more than posthumous praise. In life, they deserved the best preparation, the best equipment, and the strongest support a nation could provide. Their soldiers, still standing guard in distant outposts, deserve the same commitment today.

Nigeria can defeat insurgency. The country has the capacity, the manpower, and the experience. What this moment demands is clarity, honesty, and the political will to align policy with battlefield reality. A nation that asks its soldiers to stand between violence and its citizens must ensure that those soldiers are never left fighting tomorrow’s war with yesterday’s tools. This is an onerous assignment for the Minister of Defence and the President, requiring the full weight of political will to see it through. Nigerians are watching closely.