The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, says the Nigerian Army must, “by the necessity of the changing nature of the battle space, sit up and develop novel processes, strategy and tactics to overwhelm the enemy in kinetic and non-kinetic battles”.
Gen.Yahaya stated this on Wednesday in a lecture entitled: “The Implementation of the CIMIC Policy of the Nigerian Army and the Conduct of non-kinetic operations in the Northeast: Issues, Challenges and Lessons”.
He delivered the lecture to participants of Senior Executive Course 43 at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies(NIPSS),Kuru,near Jos.
He said that the Nigerian Army had been directly involved in counter-insurgency operations in the North-East since 2009.
The COAS said that although its initial focus was on kinetic operations, the Nigerian Army and her strategic partners now applied a mixture of kinetic and non-kinetic approach in addressing insurgency and other security operations.
He emphasised the importance of Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) as a policy of the Nigerian Army, the Armed Forces of Nigeria which constituted a significant dimension of the non-kinetic approach.
He defined kinetic operations as the use of military force or “hard power” to defeat terrorism and insurgency.
While the non-kinetic operations,he said, involved the use of non-military approach or “soft power” to address the root causes of terrorism and insurgency.
Yahaya also defined CIMIC as the coordination and cooperation between military and civilian actors with a view to achieving mission success.
According to him, it entail tasks such as coordination between the military units/formations and all the civilian actors in the general area of operation, provision of palliative support to the civilian environment to ease tension and win hearts and minds.
He disclosed that both Civil Military Relations and CIMIC were aimed at bridging the “civil-military gap and resolving real or potential conflicts between both segments of the populace.”
The chief of army staff said that the Nigerian Army was investing in building the capacity of its officers and men in all aspects of CIMIC.
He further revealed that he had approved that CIMIC be included in the curricula of all the army’s training institutions.
He called for the establishment of a National CIMIC Doctrine and Strategy, stating that the Nigerian Army and the entire Armed Forces required a sound document outlining the broad strategic and doctrinal parameters of CIMIC.
“At the moment, our CIMIC activities are executed in silos and virtually on the basis of impulse by the services.
“Also, Quick Impact Projects are executed without collaboration with the lead civil agencies.
“The proposed document should outline the broad strategic and doctrinal foundation of CIMIC at national level, areas of intervention and budgetary framework,” he said.(NAN)