The Nigerian Army has strengthened its strategic leadership capacity with the graduation of the fourth cohort of the Leadership and Strategic Studies Course (LSSC) 4/2025, as the service intensifies efforts to build officers capable of responding effectively to Nigeria’s evolving security challenges.
The graduation ceremony was held on Friday, 11 September 2026, at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), Abuja, where the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, charged the graduands to apply their intellectual training to leadership, planning and operational decision-making.
According to an official statement signed by the Acting Director Army Public Relations, Colonel Appolonia Anele, Shaibu congratulated the officers on completing 11 months of rigorous intellectual and professional development, urging them to see the qualification as a call to greater responsibility and improved professional performance.
The COAS said the changing security environment, characterised by terrorism, insurgency, banditry, cyber threats, information warfare and transnational organised crime, required officers capable of developing innovative responses that combine kinetic and non-kinetic approaches.
He urged the graduands to resist intellectual complacency, question established assumptions and continually expand their professional knowledge, stressing that the Army’s expanding force structure had further increased the demand for strategically minded officers.
Shaibu noted that the expansion of the Nigerian Army from eight to 12 divisions, alongside the establishment of additional formations and units, required officers capable of providing sound staff work, effective leadership and strategic direction.
He challenged the graduands to become agents of positive institutional change by translating the knowledge acquired into measurable improvements in planning, decision-making and operational effectiveness.
The COAS said the development of strategic leadership capacity remained consistent with his Command Philosophy of transforming the Nigerian Army into a professional, adaptable, combat-ready and resilient force.
He also appreciated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for his strategic guidance and continued support for professional military education and human-capital development.
Earlier, the Director General, Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Major General James Myam, said the LSSC was one of the Centre’s flagship programmes, conducted in partnership with the Postgraduate School of the Nigerian Defence Academy to provide higher-level professional and academic education for senior Direct Regular Commission officers.
Myam explained that the programme focuses on leadership, strategy, national security and national development, equipping participants with the knowledge required to navigate contemporary security and geopolitical challenges.
He disclosed that the successful participants were awarded a Master’s Degree in Leadership and Strategic Studies by the Nigerian Defence Academy and a Fellowship in Leadership and Strategic Studies by the Nigerian Army Resource Centre.
The Director General urged the graduands to justify the investment in their development by producing knowledge-driven outcomes in their respective formations and units, while demonstrating critical thinking, discipline and innovative problem-solving.
The graduation underscored the Nigerian Army’s continued investment in professional military education and strategic leadership as key components of its drive to strengthen institutional capacity and operational effectiveness.
