Security Watch Africa

EXCLUSIVE: Military Doing Civilian Devt Projects Aimed At Promoting Peace, Devt

By Augustine Ehikioya Apart from using military kinetic approaches, the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) has disclosed the reasons why it is carrying out civilian developmental projects across the country. It said the main reasons are to ensure peace and harmony in communities, which will in turn boost development across the country, These were the position of the Chief of Civil-Military Relations at the Defence Headquarters, Rear Admiral Olusanya Bankole while featuring as a studio guest on Saturday during the Security Watch Africa (SWA) Programme on Africa Independent Television (AIT), anchored by SWA President and CEO, Mr. Patrick Agbambu. The discussion was titled "The Use Of Non-Kinetic Operations In The Fight Against Terrorism" Citing several examples of the outreach projects that impacted on the people, he said "There are times the military had to fly drinking water to impact on communities. So, the impact of these quick-impact projects will actually transcend even the generations. "So, that's why the military is focused on doing these quick-impact projects to win the hearts and minds of the people. "And it is also important for us as Nigerians to love our military, not only the military, love the military and love every organ of Nigeria. "Sometimes, it may be difficult, but things are changing now. There is a kind of semblance of governance even at the grassroots. "So please, it's important that we love the military, we love every organ of government. Because the idea is if there is no peace, there won't be development. "So, the military is not supposed to be doing all these developmental projects. But we are doing them because we need to achieve the aim of keeping peace in Nigeria," he stated. He noted that the civilian populace is the main source of intelligence for the military. According to him, the civilians are critical to the military winning the war against insurgency and banditry in the country as they are happening in civilian-dominated areas. "It's the civilian that knows the terrain, they know their people, they know their tactics." "The military needs to make the place conducive for them, to be able to win and fight and also earn the respect of the civilians." He said that the military also helps civilians during disasters and during elections. Stressing that the military is doing so much, he noted that there is very little that the military can do. To this end, he charged the local governments, the state governments, community leadership and the religious organisations to help their people.

Admin June 16, 2025