President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Major General Yahaya Faruk on Thursday as the new Chief of Army Staff to replace Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru who died in an unfortunate plane crash last Friday in Kaduna.
His appointment will create positional shift among the officers in Nigeria Army as it is the culture in the military that once an officer is appointed as Chief of Army Staff officers above him in rank would be retired. This creates room for those below to move up and fill up the vacant positions. This particular case is significant because it is the second time it is hapening in less than six months ...the first of course being when the late COAS was appointed in January 2021.
Below, Timeline.ng analyses the effects of the appointment on the current structure of the Nigerian Army with special emphases on possible gains and losses.
The selection of a Chief of Army Staff is usually based on a lot of considerations and not quite as simple as handing over to the next most senior officer as has been seen repeatedly throughout the history of the military. For example, structure balance and the years of service left for a particular course in the Nigeria Army can determine the selection. This doesn't necessarily mean others of earlier courses are not fit.
And because COASs are not replaced every year on one hand, and the military commissions officers every year on the other, it rationally follows that a change in the appointment holder will affect multiple sets of his subordinates as his successor my come from as far as three to five sets after him.
The major effects of the appointment of the new Chief of Army Staff from 37 Regular Course of the Nigerian Defense Academy (RC) means that those who 35 and 36 RC who remained after the appointment of late Lt. Gen Attahiru will need to go because they are not suitable to serve under their junior. Already, most of that course have left the service before now and the balance have already spent the better part of their years of service.
Again, the course mates of the present COAS may also need to go, for the same reason, but not necessarily all of them. A few can still be retained to serve under the Defense Headquarters (DHQ) for instance, the Commandants of the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA) and Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (NAFRC). Others can also be retained at the discretion of the COAS to assist him in holding some key positions, particularly Operations and Policy.
Related Articles
Today, the appointment of a member of 37RC has made for 'more room' at the top and provides leeway for the newer generation from 38RC upwards to progress. Years of service had been increased in the recent past and the top is presently choked ...a situation which would seen several of the current crop of Brigadier Generals never making it to the rank of Major General.
Another perspective to the appointment is from the fact that it creates an opportunity where a more 'modern' crop of officers would now have the opportunity to be in charge of most of the army formations, possibly taking along with them, the application of modern trends. This is capable of putting the army on a better footing to combating modern threats.
An analogy to this will be a replacement of the current crop on Nigerian politicians with a younger generation.
Another strong positive point for the appointment is that good officers who hitherto would not have the opportunity to get to the top because of lack of vacancies and the 'choked' top will now have an opportunity to progress.
However, the disadvantage of the appointment is that it will cut short the careers of some fine officers, mostly of the 37RC, who otherwise still had a few more years to contribute to the service and to the Nation.
Most regrettably is that it will deprive the system of some quality experience from highly trained professional officers who have done well getting to the top of their career.
