By Sumaila Ogbaje
No fewer than 52 scholars on Thursday, unveiled a book titled, “Warfare Command and Capacity Building” a festschrift in honour of retired Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Yusuf, the immediate past Commandant, Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA).
The book presentation, which was done at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, had in attendance the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya and representatives of the Defence and service chiefs.
The book was re-edited by five scholars led by the Provost of the Mational Defence College Centre of Strategic Studies and Research, Prof. Adams Ahmed.
Others are Prof. Jacob Akindapo, Onipe Yahaya, Nkechi Egbe and Bem Audu.
Speaking on the book and the honouree, Lt.-Gen. Yahaya described Gen. Yusuf as a professional military officer who gave his best to the development and advancement of the Nigerian army and capacity development of personnel.
He said that Yusuf was one of the senior officers that assisted him to succeed as army chief and when he served as theatre commander in the northeast.
Yahaya said the book captured three main areas of command, welfare and capacity building.
He said that Gen. Yusuf was versatile in all areas while in service.
“If you excel in command, you have perhaps excelled in everything and the celebrant has succeeded as commander.
“These three key areas are necessary for somebody to succeed, not only in the military but in life,” the former COAS said.
In his remarks, Yusuf said the driving force behind the book was to give back to the army, the armed forces and the country that had invested so much in developing his capacities.
He said a lot was invested to develop his capacities right from the Army Children School to Nigerian Military School and NDA.
According to him, what the scholars have done is collate all his experiences, particularly in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations to enable younger generation of officers to learn from.
“So bringing our experiences, we focus on the capacity building of the future generation of officers for armed forces and already we are seeing the impact of what this capacity building programme is doing.
“For example, one of the officers out there, a naval officer while on exercise, a personnel fell overboard. This naval officer who has been trained in the amphibious aspect was able to jump into the water and under 18 minutes, rescued this rating.
“We are beginning to see the exploits that the young officers that just left NDA are making barely one year ago. We are getting the feedback of their exploits in the field.
“The ones from NDA that we sent to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, you saw on the documentary there they are still on training but have won laurels, which shows that the training they are receiving in the academy in Nigeria is yielding the desired outcome,” he said.
Prof. Ahmed who led the editing of the book said the focus was on making impact in whatever responsibility one is given.
He said the book would assist writers to do scholarly work on the armed forces of Nigeria and the military generally, in view of scarcity of materials in this area.
The Book Reviewer, Prof. Oloabasi Akpan, said the book had 51 chapters written by 52 authors and edited by five scholars with in-depth scholarly works covering different areas.
Akpan said that the first chapter captured the profile and early life of Maj.-Gen. Yusuf who grew through the ranks in the army and retired as a general and commandant of the nation’s elite military institution.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that several individuals including Yusuf’s superiors, subordinates and course mates poured encomium on him. (NAN)
