The Nigerian Army has taken a major step towards enhancing military training, strategic planning, and national security with the commissioning of a state-of-the-art Wargaming Centre at the Army War College Nigeria (AWCN), Asokoro, Abuja.
According to an official signed statement by the Acting Director Army Public Relations, Colonel Appolonia Anele, the facility was unveiled on June 25, 2026, by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, as part of ongoing efforts to build a highly professional, adaptive, and combat-ready force capable of addressing contemporary and emerging security challenges.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, Lieutenant General Shaibu described the Wargaming Centre as a significant investment in professional military education and institutional capacity development.
He noted that the increasingly complex and dynamic security environment requires commanders who are not only courageous in combat but also intellectually agile, strategically minded, and capable of making sound decisions under pressure.
The Chief of Army Staff emphasized that wargaming remains an indispensable tool for developing such competencies, as it enables military leaders to anticipate threats, assess options, and formulate effective responses to complex security scenarios before they emerge.
According to him, the new facility will serve as a strategic hub for generating innovative solutions to national security challenges through rigorous analysis, operational experimentation, and joint planning.
Lieutenant General Shaibu also acknowledged the contributions of his predecessors whose foresight and commitment laid the foundation for the project. He further commended the Commandant of the Army War College Nigeria and members of the faculty for proactively acquiring advanced wargaming expertise through engagements with allied military institutions even before the completion of the Centre.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Commandant of the Army War College Nigeria, Major General Umar Alkali, expressed appreciation to the Chief of Army Staff for his unwavering support towards the completion and equipping of the facility with modern wargaming infrastructure.
He explained that the Centre will provide a realistic and intellectually stimulating environment where participants can test campaign plans, evaluate force employment concepts, examine alternative courses of action, and assess the implications of strategic decisions through both manual and computer-assisted wargames.
Major General Alkali further disclosed that the facility will support the integration of land, maritime, air, cyber, and information domains into joint operational scenarios, thereby enhancing interoperability and jointness within the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
Beyond training and education, he noted that the Centre is designed to support doctrine development, concept validation, operational research, and strategic-level analysis.
The newly commissioned facility comprises two large wargaming halls, four exercise rooms, three theatre laboratories, ten syndicate rooms, a conference room, a library, a digital server room, and other supporting infrastructure.
Military authorities expressed confidence that the Centre will significantly improve the Nigerian Army’s capacity to anticipate future threats, develop effective response options, and contribute meaningfully to the achievement of Nigeria’s national security and defence objectives.
