In a bid to strengthen collective response capabilities in the fight against contemporary and emerging security challenges, 383 participants on Thursday completed a three-week exercise at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji, Kaduna.
The training which sought to also strengthen national security drew participants from the military, paramilitary, ministries, departments and agencies.
The exercise, code named ‘Haske Biyu 2023’ ,was specifically designed by the AFCSC as part of activities lined up for participants who are on Senior Course.
Participants in this years’ excercise include personnel of Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Defence Intelligence Agency, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and National Intelligence Agency.
Others are National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Nigeria Correctional Service, Department of State Services, Federal Road Safety Corps 10, and National Emergency Management Agency, among others.
In his remarks at the occasion, Commandant of AFCSC, AVM Emmanuel Wonah, said the exercise was conducted in two phases.
He said phase one featured lectures, presentations, syndicate room discussions and case studies research, while the second phase involved demonstrations,counter-militancy and stabilisation operations in joint multi-agency coalitions.
Wonah said the phases were carefully packaged
to elicit useful lessons for the benefit of participants.
“One of such lessons is the awareness of dealing with the increasingly complex security challenges, which now transcends conventional doctrinal techniques,” he said.
He added that the excercise also dwelt on the essence of timely information and intelligence sharing to ensure prompt reaction to crisis situation.
The Commandant further said that it also harped on the need for Police as lead agency in internal security, to understand early enough ,when to call on military to intervene in conflict situations.
He congratulated the participants, just as he urged them to be good ambassadors of the College and ensure maximum utilisation of knowledge gained during the excercise.
In his remarks, the Special Guest of Honour at the occasion, Mr Ahmed Audi, Commandant General of NSCDC, said the excercise was significant considering the internal security challenges faced in the country.
Represented by ACG Muhammad Haruna, Kaduna Zonal Commander of the Corps, Audi noted that many nations represented in the exercise were faced with one form of internal security challenge, or the other.
Audi urged the AFCSC to remain steadfast in its tasks of producing world class Officers for the Nigerian Armed Forces, paramilitary agencies and armed forces of friendly nations.
He urged the participants to make the best use of the knowledge gained from the exercise.
