Bashir Salihi Magashi, the Minister of Defense, has tasked the military with re-energizing efforts to combat insecurity.
He delivered the charge during a decoration ceremony for recently promoted senior military commanders in Abuja on Thursday.
“To whom much is given, much is demanded,” the minister remarked.
“You cannot afford to let the people down in your appeal for greater responsibility in preserving the country’s territorial integrity and meeting the country’s hopes for peace in all dark regions of instability.”
He claimed they were promoted to show that they deserved the trust placed in them by conquering all enemies who wreaked havoc in the country’s nooks and crannies.
He went on to say that the elevation was well-deserved, and he urged them to stay focused on carrying out their constitutional responsibility.
Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, the Chief of Army Staff, exhorted the newly decorated officers to regard their new ranks as a summons to greater duty and responsibility, particularly at a time when the Armed Forces were in the forefront of combating criminalities across the country.
He accused them of being brutal in their treatment of criminals.
“There is no place for indolence,” the COAS said, urging them to stay highly professional and apolitical.
Maj.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, Director-General of the NYSC; Maj.-Gen. Abdulwahab Eyitayo, GOC 7 Division, Maiduguri; Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Salihu, Acting Chief of Military Intelligence; and Maj.-Gen. Umar T. Musa, former Guards Brigade Commander, were among those honoured.
Maj.-Gen. Benard Onyeuko, Acting Director, Defence Media Operations; Maj.-Gen. Buhari Baffa, Nigeria’s Defence Attaché in London; Maj.-Gen. Jamaal Abdusalam, Military Secretary of Army; and Maj.-Gen. Aminu Chinade, Commandant Depot Nigerian Army were among the others.
