In a vital move to advance Professional Military Education, students of Senior Course 48 from the Department of Land Warfare, Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji, conducted a strategic operational visit to the Headquarters 1 Division Nigerian Army and Sector 1 Joint Task Force North-West, Operation FANSAN YAMMA, in Kaduna
A statement signed by Lieutenant Colonel Ajemasu Yake Jingina, acting deputy director army public relations,1 division Nigerian army/sector 1 operation fansar yamma said the high-level delegation, led by the Director of the Department of Land Warfare, Brigadier General Babatunde Omopariola, gathered at the Stallion Auditorium.
The visit aimed to provide the student officers with critical, first-hand exposure to the complex operational frameworks and evolving security dynamics within Nigeria’s North-West geopolitical zone.
Representing the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division and Commander of Sector 1 JTF (North-West) Operation FANSAN YAMMA, Major General Abubakar Sadique Muhammed Wase, the Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Timothy Opurum, delivered the welcome address. He urged the course participants to fully leverage the insights gained to sharpen their strategic thinking for future leadership roles within the Armed Forces.
Brigadier General Opurum challenged common misconceptions regarding regional security threats, noting that while the North-East is often perceived as more volatile, the North-West presents an entirely different, complex threat matrix.
“In the North-East, you generally know your adversaries and their precise areas of operation. In contrast, the North-West is a completely different ball game, demanding a distinct tactical approach and a flexible mindset,” Opurum emphasized.
He further explained that the tailored training modules and briefs prepared for the session were intentionally curated to bolster the students’ professional capacity and operational efficiency for their upcoming deployments.
Underscoring the evolving nature of modern warfare, the Director of Land Warfare, Brigadier General Babatunde Omopariola, remarked that contemporary internal security challenges require a paradigm shift. He noted that while traditional military training historically focused on conventional external aggression, current counter-insurgency and anti-banditry campaigns demand heavily intelligence-driven, human-centric operations.
Providing a breakdown of the delegation, the sponsoring Directing Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Dogara Soja, revealed that the cohort comprised 214. This includes 199 officers from the Nigerian Army and 15 international students representing 14 allied nations. The international officers include two from Tanzania and one each from the Kingdom of Eswatini, Chad, Guinea, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin Republic, and The Gambia.
Lieutenant Colonel Soja stated that the operational tour, themed “Enhancing Operational Logistics and Force Sustainment for Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency Operations in the Contemporary Operating Environment,” bridges classroom theories with real-world application. He expressed strong confidence that the interactive briefings and practical field exposures would significantly enrich the tactical knowledge of the future commanders.
The successful visit concluded with high-level interactions, including the signing of the visitors’ book, exchange of institutional souvenirs, comprehensive operational briefings by staff officers, an engaging Q&A session, and a commemorative group photograph.
