The Nigerian Army has graduated another set of senior officers from its Leadership and Strategic Studies Course, LSSC, as part of efforts to strengthen strategic leadership and build the capacity of officers to respond effectively to Nigeria’s evolving security challenges.
The graduation ceremony of the Leadership and Strategic Studies Course 4/2025 was held on Friday at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, NARC, in Abuja, after the participants completed 11 months of intensive intellectual and professional training.
Speaking as the Special Guest of Honour, the Chief of Army Staff and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of NARC, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, charged the graduands to apply the knowledge acquired during the programme to improve leadership, decision-making and operational effectiveness in their respective formations.
Shaibu congratulated the officers on their successful completion of the course, stressing that their graduation should not be viewed merely as the acquisition of another qualification but as a call to greater responsibility and purposeful leadership.
He urged the officers to remain intellectually curious and avoid complacency, noting that the changing nature of contemporary security threats required military leaders capable of developing innovative and comprehensive responses.
“Contemporary security threats, including terrorism, insurgency, banditry, cyber threats, information warfare and transnational organised crime, require officers who can think beyond immediate tactical problems and develop innovative responses that integrate kinetic and non-kinetic approaches,” he said.
The COAS also challenged the graduands to question assumptions, continually expand their professional knowledge and become agents of positive change within the Nigerian Army.
He said the recent expansion of the Nigerian Army’s force structure from eight to 12 divisions, as well as the establishment of additional formations and units, had increased the demand for officers with the intellectual capacity to provide effective leadership, sound staff work and strategic direction.
According to him, the officers must translate the knowledge gained from the course into measurable improvements in planning, decision-making and operational effectiveness.
Shaibu said the expectations were consistent with his command philosophy of transforming the Nigerian Army into a professional, adaptable, combat-ready and resilient force.
He also expressed appreciation to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for what he described as his strategic guidance and sustained support for professional military education and human-capital development.
Earlier, the Director-General of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Major General James Gwaza Khalifa Myam, said the Leadership and Strategic Studies Course was one of the centre’s flagship programmes, organised in partnership with the Postgraduate School of the Nigerian Defence Academy.
Myam explained that the programme was designed to provide senior Direct Regular Commission officers with higher-level professional and academic education, with its curriculum centred on leadership, strategy, national security and national development.
He said the programme was aimed at equipping participants with the intellectual tools required to navigate contemporary security and geopolitical challenges.
The Director-General disclosed that the successful participants were awarded Master’s Degrees in Leadership and Strategic Studies by the Nigerian Defence Academy, alongside Fellowships in Leadership and Strategic Studies from the Nigerian Army Resource Centre.
He urged the graduands to justify the investment in their professional development by applying their knowledge to produce tangible, knowledge-driven outcomes in their respective formations and units.
Myam also charged them to think critically, challenge established assumptions, maintain discipline and develop innovative solutions to complex operational and institutional challenges.
The graduation marked the completion of the fourth cohort of the Leadership and Strategic Studies Course and underscored the Nigerian Army’s continued emphasis on professional military education, strategic leadership and institutional capacity development.
