The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, said on Monday in Abuja that discussions were under way to make Nigeria’s peacekeeping contribution better and more coordinated.
Petinirin said this at the opening of the 3rd ECOWAS Senior Mission Leaders Course designed for potential senior mission leaders in peace support operations.
“On our part in Nigeria, the practice of Peace Support Operations (PSO) is getting more coordinated as the armed forces, police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are discussing how to make the contribution count better than before,’’ he said.
He said the military had deployed and were deploying more units that “are better trained, better kitted, equipped and better catered for’’.
Petinirin also said that the monthly welfare flights to mission areas showed the military’s determination to improve the provisioning of troops, adding that a lot more was being done to improve performance.
According to him, the success of any mission is dependent on the quality of its leadership hence the need for the senior leaders’ course.
He said the strategic importance of the course could be located in the fact that the sub-region had been a hotbed of conflict in Africa since the 1990s.
“Contemporary events in the region in countries such as Guinea Bissau and Mali suggest that the sub-region engineer their own capacity or enforce peace in the region.
“The timeliness of this course cannot be overstressed as it is happening at a time the AU is poised to operationalise the African Standby Forces,’’ he added.
Mr Klemenes Monkes, the Deputy Head of Mission, German Embassy, said Germany's dedication to peace building stem from the German Constitution of 1949 which provided the mandate and obligation to strive for peace.
“Therefore, I am very happy that Germany, as a nation dedicated to peace, had contributed to peace and capacity building in Africa and therefore we are contributing??260,000 euros (N55 million) to this course.
“As a neigbhouring continent, we are particularly committed and dedicated to peace building in Africa because peace is what our obligation is, as government, to provide for our people.’’
ECOWAS Commission President Kadre Ouedraogo said the course was designed to build the capacity of senior officers, military, police and civilians to be able to operate in the field as representatives of mission.
Ouedraogo, who was represented by retired Maj.-Gen. Charles Okae, said the commission had deployed some people as special representatives of ECOWAS president in Mali, Guinea Bissau and everywhere there is a conflict
“So, we are preparing the people in advance, we don’t pray for conflicts to occur in the sub-region, so when it does we have the requisite people to mission lead the conflict.
Earlier, Rear Adm Thomas Lokoson, Commandant, National Defence College, said the college had developed strategic leaders for global challenges of maintaining peace and security both in Nigeria and internationally.
“As an institution, we are now more capable to interact with external stakeholders like the UN, EU, AU, ECOWAS and the P-3 plus countries.
“These interactions are also clearly reflected and represented in the course we are about to inaugurate and I must appreciate the German government for funding this particular course.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two-week course is being organised by ECOWAS Commission and the German government. (NAN)