The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, has reaffirmed the Nigerian Army’s commitment to developing a highly motivated and combat-ready force through structured career planning and digital transformation.
Oluyede gave the assurance at the opening of the 6th Career Planning and Management Seminar for Officers, organised by the Army Headquarters Department of Military Secretary on Tuesday in Abuja.
The seminar has as its theme: “Effective Career Planning for Nigerian Army Officers: Imperative for a Well-Motivated and Combat-Ready Force within a Joint and Multi-Agency Environment”.
Represented by the Chief of Special Services and Programmes, Maj.-Gen. Jamal Abdulsalam, the COAS, emphasised that career development was a critical pillar in maintaining a professional and effective military.
He highlighted the army’s ongoing efforts to modernise career management by ensuring that officers were deployed based on their skills and competencies.
He commended the Department of the Military Secretary for digitising officers’ records and urged them to accelerate the rollout of an electronic performance evaluation report set for 2025.
“As we navigate evolving security challenges, it is imperative that our officers are well-prepared, motivated, and assigned roles that align with their expertise.
“This will not only enhance operational effectiveness but also boost morale within the force,” he said.
Oluyede reiterated his vision for a digitally advanced and combat-effective Army and encouraged officers to embrace career planning as a tool for professional growth and operational success.
He added that the initiative reflected the Nigerian army’s broader reforms aimed at strengthening personnel development and improving military readiness.
“This therefore brings to the fore the need for efficient career planning and management of personnel.
“As the world continues to evolve and with several organisations embracing novel and new strategies in human resource management, we must continually seek to improve our approach to career planning and management of our military human resources.
“This will ensure that we keep producing the right crop of personnel adequately prepared and equipped to deal with our present and future threats.
“We must all continue to try to ensure that our officers and men remain professional in the discharge of their duties,” he added.
The Military Secretary, Maj.-Gen. Everest Okoro, said the seminar was designed to focus on achieving motivated and combat-ready Nigerian army officers through recruitment, appointments, and deployments within a joint and multi-agency environment.
Okoro said that it was also designed to guarantee the desired output and future packages that would encourage participants to contemporarily approach military resource management with a view to improve career planning at all levels.
In his lecture, the former Military Secretary, retired Maj.-Gen. Shehu Abdulkadir, said that the Nigerian army had continued to face a critical need for a modernised human resource management system.
Abdulkadir delivered a paper titled, “Military Human Resource Management in a Joint and Multi-Agency Environment: The Nigerian Army in Perspective”.
He said that a comprehensive talent management system, similar to that employed by the US Army, would help identify and promote personnel based on their skills, experience, and leadership potential, ultimately improving the army’s overall effectiveness.
He added that ongoing reforms could focus on improving the balance of personnel within the army and ensuring that human resource management decisions were data-driven, transparent, and focused on long-term personnel development.
(NAN)
