PKSOI's Chief of Stability Operations visits the Nigerian Armed Forces
and Conducts a Lecture at their National Defence College
During the 1st week of June 2016, PKSOI's Chief of Stability Operations, COL Raymond "Boz" Bossert conducted
a lecture and site visits to the Nigerian Armed Forces. His
initial meeting was with MG Shonduke and BG Azez, the
commandant and deputy of the Nigerian Engineer school
in Makuda, where he provided a stabilization update and
a training assessment to the Engineer School staff, and
conducted site visits to local civic projects: a bridge, a water
tower and a road project.
COL Bossert subsequently provided a lecture to the entire
National Defence College class and many Nigerian interagency partners, as well as invited guests from the government and ministry of defense (about 800).
The lecture was followed by an impromptu office call with
the 4th highest ranking general of the Nigerian military,
LTG Ojumbi, where COL Bossert received a brief on Nigerian operations in the north and delta regions from their
respective commanders and key ministry staff. LTG Ojumbi
was interested in learning whether Nigerian operations
aligned with doctrine, while also gaining insight into applicable lessons learned. The next meeting was with the Ministry of Defense campaign planning team, led by MG Okono,
to discuss the formation of a strategic plan to address the
fight for the next few years. COL Bossert applied his stability expertise to assist in validating the planning efforts.
The final phase of the visit was a roundtable discussion
composed of over 40 members of the civilian ministries,
military and NGOs. BG Bashir, the Deputy Commandant
of the Nigerian Defence College, headed the committee.
An impromptu visit by the Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the
Nigerian Vice President, and Ambassador Danjuma Sheni,
the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Defence, opened the session and highlighted the importance
of the roundtable. An in-depth discussion revolved around
the need for phase 0, steady state stability activities to be a
joint and interagency effort with all participants receiving
the same training. The roundtable turned into a question
and answer period on how the US implemented stability
activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, and can any of these
activities be incorporated into Nigerian efforts.
The three ending points made and agreed to were:
• Successful stability operations must be conducted early,
often and always, and cannot be limited to a single phase or
portion of an operation.
• Stability activities must be a whole of government and
interagency approach.
• Stability must follow a strategic campaign plan and not
be fought one year at a time
25