ILORIN (Sundiata Post) – The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, has expressed the need for every citizen to get involved in the security of lives and properties in the country and not leave it only to the security agencies.
Lagbaja said this while delivering the 2024 distinguished personality lecture titled, “The Roles and Contributions of the Nigerian Army to National Development”, organized by the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin.
Represented by the Chief of Training (Army), Major General Sanni Gambo Mohammed, the COAS said that it is unrealistic for security personnel of around 2 million to secure the entire Nigerian population of over 200 million.
“There is an erroneous belief that security is to be provided and ensured without interruption only and exclusively by the security agencies, particularly Nigerian Army wherever deployed,” Gen. Lagbaja said.
“This has led to apathy on the part of the public who feel less concerned except when their safety is directly threatened by activities of antisocial elements. The Nigerian Army along with other security agencies is under resourced.
“In a country of over 200 million people it is unrealistic for security operatives totalling around 2 million, including an army of just over 100,000 active personnel without a reserve force to secure the entire population.”
The COAS, who said that the Federal Government was committed to recruitment of more hands in the army as promised, stressed that the Nigerian Army, along with other security agencies, is under-resourced.
The Army chief identified four challenges of inadequate funding, inadequate manpower, lack of industrial base and poor understanding of security by Nigerians as factors militating against optimal performance by the service.
