By Henry Uche, Lagos
Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has pledged to prioritize professional management training of the nation’s Armed Forces, in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered) with a view to having well-rounded officers and men who will discharge their duties efficiently, effectively and professionally at all times.
General Musa made this commitment when he received the hierarchy of the Institute led by the President/Chairman of the Council, Dr (Mrs) Christiana Atako, who paid him a courtesy visit at Defence Headquarters, Abuja.
Atako started by commiserating with the Armed Forces over the death of seventeen military personnel in the Okuama community in Delta State recently and went on to request the Defence Chief to help deepen the existing human capital relationship between the Armed Forces and the Institute.
She identified some of the ongoing professional management training collaborations covered with a memorandum of understanding between the Institute and the Armed Forces including National Defence College, Abuja; Armed Forces and Command College, Jaji, Nigerian School of Medical Sciences, Ojo, Lagos and the Nigerian Army School of Finance and Administration, Apapa, Lagos.
NIM President further asked for a similar training partnership covered with a memorandum of understanding to be extended to the Nigerian Armed Forces Re-settlement Center, Lagos; the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna and other military training colleges and formations across the country to complement the existing ones.
Apart from putting forward capacity building for the personnel of the Armed Forces that would focus on Emotional Stress Management and Attitudinal Change, she, on behalf of the Institute, also sought to improve the capacity of the men and officers of the Armed Forces by proposing pre-retirement training.
“The fundamental challenge for most retirees is not being able to adequately articulate a roadmap for future economic survival in the absence of monthly salaries as most of them do not have the deep vertical knowledge of the fundamental drivers of business success.
“The pre-retirement training, therefore, will expose the retirees to all aspects of business success from identifying opportunities in the environment, planting the venture, business plan writing until harvest” she stressed.
In response, General Musa guaranteed that there would be more collaboration with the Institute for the purpose of training the Armed Forces personnel. He stated that since the Institute has a relationship with the Armed Forces personnel on professional management training through the existing memoranda of understanding, it is only natural and justifiable to deepen the relationship by engaging the Institute more.
Musa welcomed the pre-retirement training, stating that it is very important for retiring officers because most officers who have been used to the military lifestyle find it difficult to adjust to the civilian lifestyle after retirement and often times, do not live too long after retirement due to mismanagement of both their finances and health.
Being a long-standing member of the Institute, he acknowledged that the training he received from the Institute had proved useful to him in his career advancement and would like such to be extended to other military personnel