By Jumoke Olaitan
An author, Dr AK Peters, says the book, The Shaibu Doctrine, examines the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Waidi Shaibu’s leadership philosophy and mission command strategy in addressing security challenges.
Peters, who disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday, said the book was aimed at promoting a national conversation on military leadership, doctrine and the future of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
He said the book, The Shaibu Doctrine: Mission Command and the Remaking of Nigeria’s Army at War, was co-authored by Dr Sunday Adejoh of the Nigerian Defence Academy and Dr M.S. Abubakar, a security expert.
He described the publication as the product of “rigorous patriotism and deep operational insight”, saying it went beyond documenting events to analysing and preserving leadership lessons for future generations.
“At the heart of this book is a tribute to leadership in action. It is a study of the command philosophy of the Chief of Army Staff, Shaibu,” he said.
According to him, Shaibu has demonstrated visionary military leadership by championing the concept of mission command, which empowers officers and soldiers to take initiative and responsibility within the chain of command.
Peters said the approach had contributed to making the Nigerian Army “more adaptive, more professional, and more connected to the people it serves”.
He added that improvements in troops’ morale, operational tempo and civil-military relations were among the gains recorded under the leadership of the COAS.
“The gains we are recording in our fight against insurgency and insecurity are not by accident. They are the product of doctrine, discipline, and decisive leadership,” Peters said.
He said the book was necessary because Nigeria’s security challenges required more than military firepower, stressing the need to develop and institutionalise doctrines capable of guiding future operations.
“Firepower alone will not win this war. We need ideas. We need doctrine. We need to institutionalise the lessons we are learning so that they outlive any administration or any leader,” he said.
Peters said the publication would provide policymakers with a strategic framework, the military with an institutional record, and scholars and cadets with a resource on modern Nigerian military leadership.
He said the book would also give Nigerians hope that the Army was being reformed and repositioned to address emerging security challenges.
He announced that the public presentation of the book would take place on Oct. 30 at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, and called for media support to ensure that the issues raised in the publication generated a wider national conversation.
He commended the authors for their patriotism, while acknowledging Shaibu’s leadership in the Nigerian Army.
One of the authors, Abubakar said Nigeria had been at war for a long time, adding that the country had deployed different strategies in its efforts to address insecurity.
“We have been fighting this war since 2009, and we have used different strategies to fight the war.
“Lt.-Gen.Waidi Shaibu, the current Chief of Army Staff, has come with the strategy of doing things differently from what others have done,” he said.
He explained that the mission command strategy involved deploying troops to various locations, giving them clear objectives and allowing them to exercise initiative in achieving their missions.
“He is using the strategy of mission command, put the men on the ground at the various locations, tell them what to do, and they know how to get it done,” he said.
According to him, the strategy is helping to change the narrative in the fight against insecurity.
He added that the Nigerian Army had regained lost ground and was making faster progress in its operations.
“This is turning around the story, and the Nigerian military has recovered. The Nigerian Army has gained grounds, and we are winning the war more rapidly than we had earlier. Therefore, we must celebrate this strategy,” he said.
He said the strategy had been extensively documented in the book because of its relevance to the country’s renewed approach to defence, security and intelligence.
He said the publication also aligned with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, noting that the President had approved and written the foreword to the book.
He explained that the fight against insurgency and terrorism was complex because it was an asymmetric war involving enemies who often operated within communities.
“Insurgency, terrorism, as we have said, is an asymmetric warfare.
“What you see as a major problem is the fact that there is no conventional war. You are not fighting a conventional enemy who wears a uniform like you, carries arms like you and is on the other side of the divide.
“But an insurgency kind of war has persisted in the Nigerian style because these people live within us. They live amongst us; they are our brothers and our sisters. It is the enemy within that is fighting,” he said.
He, however, described the mission command strategy as a winning approach that should be embraced across the security community to consolidate the gains recorded in the fight against insecurity.
“But this strategy is a winning strategy. We want this strategy to be known and imbibed by all, so that the mileage we have covered, we will cover more, faster, and gain more grounds for the betterment of Nigeria,” he said.(NAN)
Edited by Funmilayo Adeyemi