FG receives White Paper on revised defence policy

The Chairman, White Paper Drafting Committee on the revised Nigerian National Defence Policy (NNDP) 2015, retired Lt. Gen. Isaac Obiakor, yesterday in Abuja handed over the draft White Paper to the Minister of Defence, retired Brig. Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali.
Obiakor, who led members of the committee to the ceremony, said the committee was asked to make recommendations to government on strategies for implementing the revised defence policy, among other terms of reference. He said the document submitted by the committee recommended that the NNDP should be applied to deal with contemporary security challenges and production of national defence needs and development.
He added that for the policy to be realizable, there should be a change in the mental attitude towards implementation of national policies.
In his remarks, the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, said emerging threats to defence and sovereignty of nations required the NNDP to be reviewed periodically to address new developments and challenges.
He said government was committed to restructuring and building the capacity of the armed forces to meet emerging and contemporary security challenges.
Dan-Ali said the ministry was also undertaking the restructuring of the armed forces to reflect the current security challenges. He said the restructuring would be based on building the capacities of the senior staff, especially those in directorship cadre.
He added that the staff would be required to undertake military capacity building courses to enhance their ability to handle the responsibilities of their respective offices.