When Lieutenant General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja was appointed the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Nigerian Army, on June 19, 2023, he promised to intensify the fight against terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other non-state actors in the country. His philosophy is based on three pillars: leadership, operational effectiveness and sound administration.
General Lagbaja said: “I am deeply concerned about the welfare of my troops. As the General Officer Commanding, I have taken good care of my troops. I don’t just eat from the same plate; I eat from the same pit as them. I go on operations with them and I don’t assign a task without experiencing it myself”.
“Even as the Chief Commanding Officer, I still ride a bicycle around the barracks, which I have been doing since my time as a commanding officer, brigade commander, and GOC in the Nigerian Army. In terms of troops welfare, my priority is their healthcare. That’s why one of the first things I did in office was to approve funds to improve the facilities at the army command in Abuja”.
“I also allocated funds for the treatment of officers at home and abroad. Providing decent accommodation for the troops is another area of focus. During my time as GOC, I introduced innovative measures, such as the GOC’s intervention in December 2022 and April 2021, in different locations where I held command positions”.
“I have always been mindful of not losing touch with my roots and maintaining my identity as the Chief of Army Staff. Riding a bicycle around the barracks and exercising regularly are some of the ways I stay connected with the troops, even if it may intimidate my bodyguards. These are the same soldiers I have been with all along, so I can’t change now.”
Sixteen months into his leadership as the COAS Nigerian Army, General Lagbaja has demonstrated the ability of the Nigerian Army to stamp out all forms of criminality in the country and protect it against external aggression. He has continued to lead the Nigerian Army to significant achievements in the fight against insurgency through strategic measures like intelligence gathering, inter-agency collaboration, and community engagement.
General Lagbaja has introduced initiatives to improve the welfare of Soldiers and Officers, such as the Affordable Home Ownership Option for All Soldiers (AHOOAS) and the Nigerian Army Welfare Loan.
He has also reinstated complimentary welfare flights for troops in the North-East. He has also made significant progress in paying insurance policies to the families of deceased personnel, as well as overseeing the successful launch of the Nigerian Army Aviation.
Many stakeholders in the security sector believe that General Lagbaja’s robust strategy and clear vision have brought the activities of the remnants of ISWAP/Boko Haram to their knees. This has resulted in the killing and arrests of many Boko Haram commanders, their informants and foot soldiers, with several of their operational camps destroyed.
In confronting these forms of criminality, the COAS stated that the Nigerian Army under his watch has acquired modern equipment. He said: “We no longer rely on 1970 or 1980 equipments to fight the battle of 2023. The Nigerian Army has procured various modern equipment and also has internally built new ones. We have adequate equipments to ensure troops are ready to perform their task and tackle those challenges confronting Nigeria.
“We have asked Research and Development to build some of this equipments we used to import from abroad; if you go to our command in Kaduna, you will see what the Mechanical Engineers are doing. They are building vehicles; very soon we may be exporting some to neighbouring countries.”
General Lagbaja insists that the troops involved in operations across the country need training and retraining to rejuvenate their fighting spirit. Such training have exposed them to modern warfare and the use of newly acquired equipments. As such, he said the Nigerian Army must continue to review its tactics, techniques and procedures, and come up with implementable strategies to defeat the adversaries with both kinetic and non-kinetic means.
The Nigerian Army under General Lagbaja has purchased over 200 gun trucks, thousands of personal protective equipments, over 100 mines resistant ambush protected vehicles and several other sophisticated equipments.
Likewise, significant successes have been recorded in the fight against oil theft, oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism in the oil-producing Niger Delta region.
And, the activities of these criminals have reduced the nation’s crude oil production. But with the strategies put in place by General Lagbaja to protect the region, the Federal Government, through the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, has acknowledged that improved security in the region is responsible for the increased crude oil production to 1.65 million barrels per day, as against the 1.25 million barrels per day previously recorded.
General Lagbaja also introduced the COAS Personnel Empowerment Loan Scheme (CPELS), which aims at empowering army personnel and families through investment in agriculture, blue chip stocks, skill acquisition training, SME businesses, asset acquisition, medical bills and other family-friendly endeavours. It also seeks to alleviate cash shortage concerns and safeguard personnel from high interest rates charged by banks and other financial institutions.
The implementation of the CPELS, which began on April 30, 2024, comes with enormous benefits for the Nigerian Army Personnel and their families which include; poverty alleviation as access to loans will help improve the standard of living and well-being of personnel and provide a shorter loan bureaucratic process as it requires only application form and military ID card.
It is also non-exploitative as it offers lower rates as against 35-40 per cent annual lending rates in commercial banks, a smooth recovery process as borrowed funds will be recovered at source, thus eliminating loan defaults and preventing bad debts. The loan scheme is a suitable and revolving scheme with a monthly recovery projected to ensure sustainability in the first three years before additional capital injection is needed. The loan offers a fixed monthly reduction over a longer period, making it flexible to collect and easy to refund. The scheme does not encourage any form of preferential treatment as loans will be granted to military personnel on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Despite these achievements, some unscrupulous elements are using some sections of the media to spread unfounded rumors to attack General Lagbaja’s personality and the Nigerian Army in general. Their unsubstantiated claims and allegations against General Lagbaja are considered baseless and lacking in substance. It also showed that these set of people have blatantly and brazenly ignored the olive branch offered to the media by the General Lagbaja led Nigerian Army for collaboration with the military in reporting accurate and balanced news involving the Nigerian Army and its leadership to ensure national security and development.
In spite of the attacks and criticisms of a tiny ungrateful people who never see anything good in Nigeria, especially the Nigerian Army and it’s leadership. General Lagbaja and his team have continued to receive commendation for their purposeful leadership and determination in combating insurgency and criminality. This commendation means that there is a need for all Nigerians, especially those paid critics of General Lagbaja and the Nigerian Army to support them in sustaining the tempo of taking the battle to the adversaries.
This article was contributed by Comrade Oladimeji Odeyemi, a security analyst and a counter terrorism expert from Ibadan, Oyo State.
