Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja
By Akeem Atoyebi
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja on Tuesday , raised the alarm over a new set of security challenges in the country, apart from the known threats of terrorism, insurgency, banditry, illegal mining, and farmer/herder crisis.
Lagbaja made this known at the Chief of Army Staff Combined Second and Third Quarter Conference 2024, going on in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
The alarm came as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, said the Armed Forces of Nigeria, in collaboration with other security agencies, were working tirelessly to ensure the safety of critical state assets, as well as guarantee increase in oil production to boost economic activities. Musa said this yesterday, when he received Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Abuja.
Equally, Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, directed the Air Component Commanders to intensify their efforts in the ongoing operations to deny terrorists and other criminals freedom of action.
Abubakar gave the directive yesterday during a virtual meeting with the commanders.
Lagbaja said the recent protests in the country, primarily driven by discontent over economic issues and government policies, resulted in significant unrest and, in some cases, violence.
He stated, “This situation reminded us that as an Armed Force, we must not only focus on physical security and defence of the nation, but that food and social security issues can snowball into physical security challenges.”
Lagbaja said the protest held between August 1 and August 10 was largely driven by provocative and inciting social media traffic, although it was professionally managed by the Nigeria Police, supported by the military and other security agencies.
The chief of army staff said the challenge the protest posed was a pointer to the fact that the military must always remain professional.
