Major-General Abdul Khalifa Ibrahim, the Force Commander (FC) Multinational Joint Task Force, spoke at the National Defence College in Abuja, Nigeria, on March 9, 2023, about counter-terrorism and counterinsurgency operations and national security in Nigeria. The lecture is a component of a sequence of events planned for College participants, who include senior officers with the rank of colonel and their equivalents from Nigeria and other friendly African nations as well as those from outside the continent.
The lecture highlighted the MNJTF’s efforts to ensuring Nigeria’s national security, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Kamarudeen Adegoke, Chief Military Public Information Officer MNJTF N’Djamena. In it, it was explained how the MNJTF, working with other national operations, had made it possible for peace and security to gradually return to the Lake Chad region, and specifically Nigeria, and how. This has made it possible for IDPs and refugees from the broader Lake Chad Region to gradually return to their original homes.
It has also made it possible to reopen important commercial markets with thriving commercial, agricultural, and economic activities. Examples of these significant international trade routes include N’Djamena (Chad), Kousseri (Cameroun), Gamboru (Nigeria), and Maiduguri. This is in addition to the large-scale rebel and collaborator surrenders. Additionally, the FC outlined the MNJTF’s difficulties and suggested some solutions.
Therefore, he exhorted the students to make use of the information they had learned to make a real difference in local and national growth. He declared that the MNJTF and other national operations have made substantial progress in bringing the conflict in the Lake Chad basin to a close, and he urged greater cooperation to put an end to it once and for all.
In his closing comments, the College’s Commandant, Rear-Admiral Murtala Bashir, expressed his gratitude to the FC for the engaging lecture. He praised the FC’s excellent leadership abilities for elevating the MNJTF, which, in his opinion, has contributed to the region around Lake Chad’s current state of relative calm. In order to combat the threat of insurgency and terrorism in the area and beyond, he encouraged the participants to come up with innovative ideas and offer practical solutions.
The FC had previously served as a guest lecturer at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College Jaji Nigeria Counter Terrorism/Counter Insurgency Operations Seminar on March 1, 2023, where he gave a talk titled “The Role of Military Leadership in a “Whole-of Society Approach” Towards Enhancing Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency operations: My Experience”.
In his lecture, the FC observed that military leadership in the modern CTCOIN environment is a blend of an all-encompassing civil-military attitude of mind propelled by a dexterity for collaboration. Therefore, for a whole-society strategy to be effectively implemented, a commander must employ creative means to balance the conflicting demands from the various operating environment sensitivities. In a whole-society approach, which he believes is the most effective strategy for combating the threat of terrorism and insurgency, he then outlined his key military leadership tenets.
Air-Vice-Marshal EA Wonah, the college’s commandant, expressed his appreciation for the FC’s engaging talk. In his concluding comments, the SGOH, Maj-Gen Chris Musa, who is also Commander of the Infantry Corps and Immediate Past Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, praised the FC for the lecture and argued in favor of a comprehensive approach to eradicating the threat of terrorism and insurgency.
