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From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The National Defence College said it will collaborate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to overcome the challenge of insecurity in the country.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, in Abuja, the Commandant of the National Defence College, Rear Admiral Murtala Mormoni Bashir, said over the years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been a strategic partner of the college.
Bashir, who noted the participation of officials from the ministry in the strategic course at the college, disclosed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been facilitating so many of the activities of the college, notably that the college is an international institution that involves international participants.
Bashir also said after meeting with the minister, there is the possibility of further collaboration with the ministry in terms of how both parties can form a think-thank that will advance the foreign policy objectives of the Federal Government.
The commandant stated that the emphasis at the college has been on the whole of society’s approach to addressing security challenges, saying that diplomacy is one of the elements of the national power of a country.
He stated that if the county got its diplomacy right through seminars and allied activities, the nation will be able to tackle so many of the challenges faced by the country.
‘Remember too that so many of the security challenges are transnational. They are not only within our borders, they cut across countries. If you look at terrorists, they don’t have any defined border. They operate across borders,’ he stated.
‘So, if we get our diplomacy right, we will be able to get the required partnership from our allies so that we see how we can galvanise our efforts in addressing some of these challenges,’ Bashir said.
Earlier, Onyeama said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal Government is proud of the National Defence College, adding that it is one of the national institutions that has been able to maintain quality as an institution and one whose quality has endured.
Onyeama congratulated the National Defence College for attaining 30 years as an institution and hailed the college as a centre of excellence.
He said, unlike the National Defence College, over the years the country has witnessed how a number of institutions have not been able to maintain the standard that they started off with, and the same energy, commitment, drive and focus.
Onyeama assured Bashir that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to partner with the National Defence College, while also expressing delight that the college plans to introduce Master programmes within its component.
‘On the side of the ministry, I think we would have to also institutionalise the relationship with your institution whereby your institution becomes one of our think-thanks,’ Onyeama said.
Onyeama further recalled a number of agencies under the ministry, particularly the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), saying that without doubt, the National Defence College should become one of the basis and one of the think-thanks and sources of development of Nigeria’s foreign policy.
