No excuse for failing to crush terrorism, oil theft, says Ogalla

The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, has underscored the need for the military to fight insecurity to a standstill.

The naval boss insisted that the Armed Forces have no excuse not to defeat terrorism, banditry, oil theft, kidnapping, secessionist agitations, and other emerging security threats in the country.

His colleague, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, also revealed that the service spends about $11 million to overhaul a single attack helicopter platform in its inventory whenever the need arises.

Also, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, accused the media of presenting the military in a bad light before the international community. He, however, noted that the issue is gradually being addressed.

Speaking during the closing of the Chief of Defence Staff Joint Task Force Commanders Conference 2025 at DHQ in Abuja, Ogalla said the nation is currently waging irregular warfare, which requires a whole-of-society approach to defeat.

He said, “We must understand that these threats are evolving and have remained dynamic in nature over the years.
“I am happy to say that as these threats keep developing, the Armed Forces and other security agencies have also been evolving in our counter-strategies.

“We know that our basic training, which was primarily conventional warfare, has, over the past decades, changed because of the existing and emerging threats. This has necessitated a modification in our training to improve the skill set required to counter these new threats.

“We all know that the threats we are facing today involve a different kind of warfare that is not conventional in nature. We can call it irregular warfare, and of course, for us to counter irregular warfare, it requires the application of all elements of national power.”

He itemised the elements of national power, including the military, economy, diplomacy, and information, among others, stressing that all these must be put in place to enable the military and other security agencies to counter these types of threats known as irregular warfare.

Admiral Ogalla said that for the military to address these myriad threats, there must be a whole-of-society approach. He explained that this approach is similar to the application of all elements of national power in defeating the threats facing the nation.

He stressed that key among these elements of national power required now is the military element.

“Another is the economic element. These two go hand in hand because the economic component is required to create a powerful military force that will address the threats we are facing.

“Again, the military element is required to safeguard the economic component for us to have enough resources to fund the military.

“We cannot run away from this fact, and there is no excuse for us not to defeat these identified threats,” the CNS said.

Earlier, COAS Oluyede said military actions alone cannot achieve the desired end state of counter-insurgency operations.

To this end, he stressed that commanders must continue to explore the non-kinetic approach by collaborating with traditional and religious leaders in every community within their area of responsibility to build trust.

He also cautioned the field commanders to be mindful of sabotage and subversion.

However, he accused the media of portraying the military in a very bad light, stressing that such negative reportage of the military is counterproductive in counter-insurgency efforts.

The CAS, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, stressed the need to respect the rights of citizens during operations.

Representing the Chief of Training and Operations, Air Vice Marshal Francis Edosa, the CAS decried the activities of some stakeholders who present the Nigerian military in a negative light, leading to difficulties in procuring the necessary military armaments on the international market to stay ahead of insurgents.

He said, “I wish to make remarks on some of the recommendations made by some commanders, which centered around air assets.

“Enough is being done in this regard. We will all agree that running air assets is capital-intensive, which is why we are advocating for more funding for the Air Force.

“As we speak, our attack helicopters that are due for overhaul may require about $11 million each to overhaul. So this is what we face.

“In addition to that, even when you have this money, you cannot easily get the spare parts. For instance, the Mil Mi series, which is the major attack helicopter that we use, is difficult to source spare parts for due to the international environment.”