By George Odok
The Commandant of Naval War College Nigeria (NWCN), Rear Adm. Adeseye Ayobanjo, has commissioned 22 naval personnel for the Command Level Officers’ Course 3.
Ayobanjo, who inaugurated the personnel on Monday in Calabar said that it was designed as a refresher course to prepare selected officers for the command’s responsibility ashore and afloat.
According to him, the mission is “to develop senior naval leaders and equivalent from other services as operational level commander with appreciation of complex national security problems.
“These people would be prepared to make sound decisions in the application of maritime force as a policy option”.
He said that the course seek to enhance effectiveness in command, leadership and management by focusing on self-awareness, ethics, communication skills and team work.
He said that the command level course was one of the capstone courses the college was mandated to conduct to accomplish its overall mission.
The Commandant stated that the participants would be the second group of officers to undergo the course in the institution.
“It is my delight to inaugurate the command level course 3, comprising 22 participants of the rank of Commodore and Lt. Commodore.
“The course is designed as a refresher course to prepare select officers for command responsibility ashore and afloat.
“With the increasing influence of technology on modern warfare/security environment, it becomes imperative for the next generation of Naval leaders/commanders to understand how best to navigate the thin line between the levels of command towards overall mission accomplishment,” he said.
Rear Adm. Thaddeus Udofia (Rtd), pioneer Commandant of the NWCN in his speech, said that evolving security challenges required new approaches to military leadership.
Udofia admonished operational leaders to be smart and have keen sense of reality on what needed to be done.
On ethics and professionalism, he advised commanders to work as a team to achieve set goals.
The retired commandant said that developing domain knowledge, enterprise perspective, leadership skills and the intellectual age are competencies required by next generation naval leaders and commanders.
He said that the Navy had a responsibility to develop the capacity and intellectual skills of the next level of commanders and leader.