Defence policy review committee set for public presentation

By Joy Baba Yesufu

The Chairman of the Presidential Committee set up to review the National Defence Policy, AVM Mohammed Umaru, has said the committee is set to hold public presentations in three states of the country.

Umaru stated this yesterday in Abuja while addressing journalist saying that the public presentation will hold in Lagos, Kaduna and Enugu states simultaneously from January 21-22, 2015.

Umaru and his 35-man committee members said the decision to make it a public hearing was borne out of the desire to involve as many Nigerians as possible to make contributions to the policy.

According to him “In order to draw up a robust draft report, the committee has scheduled public presentations to hold simultaneously in Kaduna, Enugu and Lagos from January 21-22, 2015.

“Papers on different topics will be presented by experts and members of the public will have the opportunity to contribute.

“The National Defence Policy provides general guidelines for the employment of the Armed Forces and deployment of national resources to secure Nigerian citizens, maintain the country’s territorial integrity, protect her from external aggression and facilitate the achievement of her national interest.

“The current National Defence Policy was promulgated in 2006 and since then, the nation has undergone a lot of transformation in terms of development as well as security challenges.

“There are also new developments and challenges in the global environment that have direct impact on our security and national defence. These challenges highlight the need for the review of the National Defence Policy in order to address the new developments and emerging threats.”

It would be recalled that President, Goodluck Jonathan, had on November 20, 2014 inaugurated a committee to review the National Defence Policy to make response to the current security issues.