National Defence College Nigeria Graduates 107 Participants as President Buhari Calls for Collaboration among Security Agencies
National Defence College Nigeria (NDC) has graduated 107 participants of NDC Course 28 today, Thursday 6 August 2020 at the College Premises in Abuja. The event was attended by President Muhammadu Buhari, Commander- in- Chief of the Armed Forces Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Honourable Minister of Defence Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd) and the Service Chiefs.
Other dignitaries at the occasion were heads of ministries, departments and agencies and a host of serving and retired senior military officers. Speaking at the Graduation Ceremony, President Muhammadu Buhari call on heads of security and defence services to promote and implement comprehensive security philosophies of joint effort and synergies through interagency cooperation to address the nation’s security challenge.
The President who was represented by the Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi (Rtd), said this would help to create enabling environment to overcome the security challenge in the country. He noted that in spite of the challenges in the country, the nation had remained strong and vibrant in all forms. According to him “In spite of all of these, our faith in the nation is unshaken and our resolve to take the nation to greater heights is strong.”
The Minister noted that there was need to work together and get back on track as a way forward. He said this will require a fundamental philosophy of deliberative, continuous and consolidative improvement in all aspect of our national life. “We must continuously harness the strengths of our national diversities; we must promote “Nigeria first” in all our doings; we must bridge political divides and engage in political re-engineering based on equity and mutual trust”. On his part, the Commandant NDC, Rear Admiral Mackson Kadiri noted that the National Defence College has annually trained strategic leaders in the Armed Forces of Nigeria, the Nigeria Police Force as well as key Ministries, Departments and Agencies since 1992 when the College was established. He added that the College trains senior military officers from friendly nations in Africa and across the world.
This he said was in keeping with the College mandate to provide strategic grooming for selected military officers and their civilian counterparts and imbibe in them a firm understanding of key factors undergirding security and defence in preparation for higher responsibilities in the national and international arena. “I am pleased to report that in the last 28 years, the College has delivered on this mandate, while keeping traction with international standards and best practices. Indeed, the College has trained 2,340 participants since its inception” he said.
Rear Adm Mackson Kadiri added that the NDC Course 28 was duly trained and prepared for higher challenges of national security and defence having benefited from the statutory curriculum and special programmes in the College. He said, “A total of 107 participants were being presented for graduation today”. The participants are made up of 67 officers of the rank of Colonel in the Nigerian Army and equivalents in the Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Air Force, 7 Commissioners of Police from the Nigeria Police Force, 15 participants from the MDAs as well as 18 military officers from allied countries spread across Africa, Asia and the Americas”. Speaking on the international acceptability of NDC, the Commandant said “I am proud to state that since the inception of the College, Course 28 had the highest number of international participants”.
He said “this is an attestation of the international acceptance of the College’s academic and research standards”.
