The Minister of Defence, Gen. Aliyu Gusau, has demanded collective effort from Nigerians in the fight against terrorism and insurgency in the country.
Gusau made the call at the graduation dinner/award night for Course 22 Participants of the National Defence College (NDC) in Abuja, where he stressed that it is not just government and security services that are in the war, but the entire country.
He said: “It is our war and war can only be won if we keep a united front, while we are concerned about our present we should also think of our future.
“The current challenges in some part of the country remind us that military might alone is not enough to ensure peace,’’ he said.
The defense Minister, however, noted that military power was essential to ensuring stability without which, it would be impossible to build and sustain peace.
Gusau said without the support of the people, especially the locals, the unseen enemies in an insurgency would retain the perception that they had the upper hand.
He said the armed forces require the total and unalloyed support of generality of Nigerians for their actions to remain legitimate.
On training, Gusau said government was focused on renewed partnership with the NDC to ensure that senior officers of the military were properly trained to enable them face the challenge of terror.
To the graduating participants, he said: ‘’I have cause to believe that you have all earned the right to be conferred with the qualification Fellow of Defence College (FDC).’’
Gusau stressed that innovation and foresight were needed to curb emerging security threats in the 21st century, while he expressed satisfaction over the progress made by the college in the areas of training, research and development. He further appreciated the college for retaining its position as the centre of excellence.
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