Insurgency Revealed Lapses in Military Training, says CDS

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Abayomi Olonisakin, has said that the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East zone exposed the inadequacy in joint operational planning and training by the Ni­gerian Armed Forces.
Olonisakin made the remark at the take-off of the Export Joint Operational Planning course for members of the Armed Forces on Monday at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Abuja.
Represented at the event by the Director of Policy at the De­fence Headquarters, Maj-Gen Kasimu Abdulkarim, the CDS said that the recent experiences in the North East zone under­scored the need to build opera­tional capacity in the act of plan­ning for joint operations.

He said that training is the bedrock of every endeavour in­cluding the military, which ex­plains why he made it one of his policy thrusts.
“The Armed Forces of Nige­ria have been involved in a series of joint operations in various parts of the country…specifical­ly the ongoing joint operations in the North East.
“…We have reviewed some past and ongoing joint opera­tions and identified gaps which include lack of adequate joint operational planning among others.
“This has underscored the need to build operational capac­ity for the Armed Forces of Ni­geria in the act of planning for joint operations.
“It is on this score that this training course is designed to further enhance your under­standing of all the processes involved in a successful export joint operational planning.
“It is expected that on return to your various units, you will bring the knowledge you gained here to bear on export planning process on the ongoing and fu­ture operations”, he said.
Speaking to Journalists short­ly after the opening ceremony, the Team Leader, British Mili­tary Advisory Training Team (BMATT), United Kingdom, Commander John Barratt, said that the training course is at the instance of Nigerian Defence Headquarters and is expected to last for one week.