By Odita Sunday
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, has challenged senior Nigerian Army officers to look beyond conventional battlefield tactics and develop the strategic thinking needed to respond to Nigeria’s changing security environment.
Shaibu gave the charge on Friday, 11 September 2026, at the graduation ceremony of the Leadership and Strategic Studies Course (LSSC) 4/2025, held at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), Abuja.
The 11-month programme brought together senior officers for intensive professional and academic training aimed at strengthening their ability to lead, plan and make sound decisions in increasingly complex security situations.
Speaking as Special Guest of Honour, Shaibu told the graduands that their graduation should not be treated simply as another academic qualification, but as a responsibility to return to their formations with better ideas, stronger leadership and a greater capacity to deliver results.
He said the security challenges facing the country had become more complicated, with terrorism, insurgency, banditry, cyber threats, information warfare and transnational organised crime requiring responses that go beyond the traditional use of force.
According to him, officers must be prepared to understand the wider circumstances surrounding security problems and combine military action with non-kinetic approaches where necessary.
The COAS urged the graduands not to become comfortable with established ways of doing things, but to keep learning, question assumptions and remain open to new ideas.
He said the recent expansion of the Nigerian Army from eight to 12 divisions, alongside the establishment of additional formations and units, had also created a greater need for officers with the ability to provide sound leadership and strategic direction.
Shaibu therefore challenged the officers to use the knowledge gained from the course to improve planning, decision-making and operational effectiveness, while becoming positive influences within the institution.
He said this was in line with his Command Philosophy of building a Nigerian Army that is professional, adaptable, combat-ready and resilient.
The COAS also expressed appreciation to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for his strategic guidance and continued support for professional military education and human-capital development.
Earlier, the Director General, Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Major General James Gwaza Khalifa Myam, said the Leadership and Strategic Studies Course was established to give senior Direct Regular Commission officers the knowledge and skills required to operate effectively at higher levels of military leadership.
Myam said the programme, run in partnership with the Postgraduate School of the Nigerian Defence Academy, focuses on four interconnected areas: leadership, strategy, national security and national development.
He explained that the training was designed to help participants better understand contemporary security and geopolitical challenges and develop practical responses to them.
The successful participants received a Master’s Degree in Leadership and Strategic Studies from the Nigerian Defence Academy and a Fellowship in Leadership and Strategic Studies from NARC.
Myam urged the graduands to ensure that the investment in their education produces visible results, charging them to take what they had learnt back to their formations and units and turn it into better decisions, stronger planning and practical solutions.
The graduation marked the completion of the fourth cohort of the Leadership and Strategic Studies Course and reinforced the Nigerian Army’s growing emphasis on professional military education and strategic leadership as it responds to an increasingly complex security landscape.
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