Passing Out Parade Of The NDA Regular Course 65 (Nigeria Army), Regular Course 66 (Nigeria Navy And Air Force)

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SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO SAN, THE VICE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE PASSING OUT PARADE OF THE NDA REGULAR COURSE 65 (NIGERIA ARMY), REGULAR COURSE 66 (NIGERIA NAVY AND AIR FORCE), KADUNA ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 6, 2018

I am delighted to be here today on this occasion of the Passing Out Parade of the Cadets of the 65 Regular Course (Army) and 66 Regular Course (Navy and Air Force). I was here for this same event in September 2017, representing the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, whose very warm felicitations I bring to you today.

May I congratulate the cadets of 65 Regular Course Nigerian Army and the 66th Regular Course Nigeria Navy and Nigeria Air Force, on this occasion of your passing out, this day recognizes your commendable success after a period in the Defence Academy that has tested your intellect and resilience. Congratulations. Very well done.

My hearty congratulations also to the family and friends of the graduands, especially parents and spouses. We thank God that your personal sacrifices and deprivations to see your loved ones through this course have all paid off.

As you are all aware, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari came to office determined to make an impact in three main areas: security, the fight against corruption, and the economy. We can say that recent positive developments in these areas have definitely shown that despite the challenges, we can see a great light at the end of the tunnel.  Our nation is certainly poised for a new lease of life.

In the area of corruption, the President as you know has been determined to ensure that we do not have a repeat of what has gone on in previous years and this he has taken a strong stand on grand corruption.

By grand corruption, I mean the looting of resources from the Nigerian treasury. He has insisted that it will not happen again and it is for that reason that the administration, despite earning sixty per cent less than previous administrations, has been able to spend on capital in particular N1.7 trillion in the 2016 budget and N1.7 trillion in the 2017 budget, the highest in the history of the country.

It explains why it is possible earning far less than any previous administration, earning at least sixty per cent less and we are able to invest in infrastructure especially railways and roads. We are able to invest in the Lagos-Kano rail line which is already coming on to the Ibadan end; we are also able to invest in the second Niger Bridge; we able to invest in the Mambila hydro project abandoned forty years ago; we are able to invest in the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and several other such capital projects.

It is because of his determination to stop grand corruption that we are able to do the largest social investment programme in the history of our county. We have spent so far, N109 billion on social investment and this has resulted in the employment of 500,000 young men and women in our N-Power programme.  Each of the 500,000 people receive regular stipends some of which are involved in teaching, some in extension farm work and others in public health work in different parts of the country. Every single Local Government Area in Nigeria has N-Power graduates working there.

Aside from that, we have the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme which is now in 27 states of the country and feeding over 9 million children every single day. Aside from that, 82,000 cooks have been employed under the school feeding programme across the states.

We have also, because of the President’s commitment to ensuring the bottom of the pyramid in Nigeria are given the same sort of assistance as all others, launched the microcredit programme, again the largest in the history of the country. This began since two years ago and it has now reached petty traders under the TraderMoni scheme, who are getting their own micro-credits.

Today, we are targeting two million of the poorest in the value chain, those whose inventory may not be more than N3,000; all of them are now receiving microcredit. And when they pay back in six months period, they are entitled to more credit.

We intend to touch every single Nigerian because the resources of this great country if they are not stolen, are more than adequate to deal with many of the poverty concerns that we have in this country.

The administration of President Muhammadu has also focused on security and I will speak very briefly about what has been done. In order to reposition our military to perform their duties effectively, this administration has embarked on some crucial changes in its structure and modes of operation. Two additional divisions have been created, as well as several new Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), to enhance the strategic, operational and tactical performance of the armed forces in the various theatres of operations.

In a world in which the forms and manifestations of insecurity are constantly evolving, law enforcement responses have to equally evolve in order to not just keep up but to stay ahead.

Also as part of efforts to modernize our Armed Forces, this Administration has intensified the training and retraining of our officers and men in addition to providing new platforms and other resources. The Nigerian Army, for instance, recently acquired Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers (MBRL) and Armoured Vehicles, to improve operational effectiveness; as well as attack helicopters for the Nigerian Army Aviation Corps.

The Nigerian Navy recently commissioned into its operations, 6 new Fast Patrol Boats: NNS NGURU, EKULU, SHIRORO, OSE, GONGOLA and CALABAR respectively.

The Nigerian Air Force has just acquired Diamond 40 and 42 aircraft for maritime patrol and intelligence surveillance, Mi-35M attack helicopters, and Augusta 109 Power helicopters for insertion and medical evacuation. A few months ago the Federal Government completed a deal with the United States Government for the purchase of Super Tucano A-29 aircraft for the Counter Insurgency Operations.

There are also commendable efforts ongoing to produce military hardware locally, in partnership with foreign and local industries. The best-known example of this is the TSAIGUMI, the Nigerian Air Force’s first indigenous operational Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

Earlier this year, this administration signed into law the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers and Soldiers, to ensure an improvement in the welfare of service personnel. Across the services, there has been upgrade of infrastructure – construction of new barracks across the country, renovation of existing ones, construction of medical facilities, and so on.

In the Niger Delta, the efforts of the military have helped reduce militancy substantially. Oil output has risen considerably with the resultant effect on the size and stability of government revenues.

The Federal Government’s Amnesty Programme is also on course; as is the New Vision for the Niger Delta, our umbrella initiative aimed at ensuring that the people fully benefit from the wealth of their region.

The Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, which for years posed a potent threat to the sovereignty and survival of the country, has been significantly degraded, and relative normalcy has returned to the towns and villages in the region.

Today, residents of Borno State are able to celebrate their religious festivals without the blanket of fear that once kept them permanently indoors. Schools, markets and roads have re-opened; farmers are returning to the farms from which they were forced to flee in the wake of Boko Haram insurgency.

In the last 2 years, more than a million displaced persons have been reunited with their loved ones. Over 100 of our kidnapped girls from Chibok have regained their freedom after more than two years in captivity, while the plight of the Dapchi Girls was promptly dealt with. This is in addition to the thousands of other captives who have since been rescued through special military operations.

We are committed to ensuring the release of all of the young women and men held in captivity. A few days ago, Mr President spoke personally to the anguished mother of Leah Shaibu, the only Dapchi girl still in Boko Haram captivity.

All over the North East, our people are being provided with a chance to begin the urgent task of rebuilding their lives and livelihoods. The Federal Government is working with States, the international community, Non-Governmental Organizations and Civil Society Organizations, to help achieve this.

I must especially commend the efforts and resilience of members of our Armed Forces for the giant strides recorded so far in the fight against the insurgency. The ongoing military stabilization operations in the North East will continue until full normalcy is restored.

Across the North Central and North West of the country, we have made progress with regards to stemming the tide of communal violence, farmer-herdsmen clashes, cattle rustling and kidnapping.

The Special Intervention Forces deployed to the hotspots, combining ground forces with air support, have helped put the purveyors of violence on the back foot. We are not yet out of the woods of course, but the progress we have seen in recent months emboldens us to continue the fight.

We will continue to demonstrate zero tolerance for crime and criminality. Those who take laws into their hands, who bear arms illegally, and who seek to profit from a climate of fear and insecurity will be decisively dealt with. That remains our promise to the people of Nigeria, who elected us to keep them safe and secure. The peace and stability of our dear country will continue to be of utmost importance.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, security is not only about law enforcement. It is also about building the right relationships that underpin the development of secure societies. This is why the administration has been fully committed from the start to strengthening existing relations between Nigeria and our neighbouring countries. It has always been clear to us that there is no way we can achieve the security we seek without the cooperation and support of our neighbours. The resulting strategic synergy of efforts – exemplified by the revitalization of the Multi-National Joint Task Force – has proved to be very effective in curtailing Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Region.

Today’s graduating cadets will be taking their place in a military that is on the rise, destined and determined to take its place amongst the most powerful militaries in the world. But it will also be a military facing an array of very potent threats and enemies. The days of conventional warfare now appear to be firmly behind us. Today’s landscape presents a range of non-state actors versed in “asymmetric” warfare.

Indeed, today’s landscape extends well beyond the time-tested terrains of land, sea and air, into the vast territories of cyberspace. The internet and new digital technologies have provided a platform for the weaponisation, to unprecedented levels, of news and speech. Many of the enemies you will confront will be permanently faceless or concealed, leveraging technology to wage warfare that has the potential to be even more destructive than anything the world has ever known. We must develop a policy on cyber warfare that has as its strategic focus the prevention of cyber-attacks against critical national infrastructure minimizing national vulnerability to cyber-attacks and minimizing damage and recovery time from cyber-attacks.

A successful completion of a rigorous and demanding course of this nature no doubt imbues you, today’s graduating cadets, with a sense of self-esteem and accomplishment.

You must maintain that spirit of accomplishment, as you prepare to face the tasks ahead of you. We all have very high expectations of you, that together with your senior colleagues, you will greatly contribute your quota to the sustenance of our national security and the defence of the territorial integrity of the country.

Let me, before I end, commend our men and women in the Armed Forces who have kept faith with the current democratic dispensation over the course of the last 19 years. The subordination of the military to civil authority is a cherished tradition that is one of the cornerstones of democratic existence and has, in addition, helped promote military professionalism in all parts of the world. It is a tradition that must be sustained and strengthened in our country.

For graduating cadets from sister African states of the Republic of Togo and Benin, you have performed excellently well and made friends in Nigeria.  I urge you to continue to raise the bar of excellence which you have imbibed and to be good ambassadors of the Academy as you return to your home countries. An army is only as good as the character and competence of its officers and men.

There is no profession that requires these attributes in a greater degree than the army. When your duty is to put your life on the line repeatedly for the safety of millions of your countrymen, the nation is blessed if our men and women of the armed forces are not only persons of skill but of character. We are doomed if the reverse is the case. The duty you have taken on by your military commission is the noblest available in our nation. No other is as honourable. It is by your courage, loyalty and integrity that you can truly deserve the trust and confidence of the nation.

Finally, let me commend the Commandant and the entire Academy community, for the excellent work you are doing, raising new generations of the military personnel who will tirelessly defend the territorial integrity of the nation.  I also commend the parents and guardians of these young men and women for their untiring support to them. By every standard, today’s event has been a remarkable success.

I thank you all. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.