Abuja, Nigeria- Armed Forces of Liberia Majors Eden Theophilus Jallay and Joseph Vannah Sumo graduated with the Master of Science (M.Sc.) degrees from the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) in Jaji, Kaduna State, Nigeria on Saturday, July 13, 2019.
A release from the Liberian Embassy in Abuja on Monday says the two Liberian army personnel were members of a graduating class totaling 207, including 13 international officers from 11 African countries and the Republic of Korea who received advanced degrees in the nearly one-year course in International Affairs and Defense Studies.
The training of Majors Jallay and Sumo was made possible by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Security Cooperation between the governments of the Republic of Liberia and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the release recalls.
Commending the graduates, Keynote Speaker President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, said that their nations expected their full commitment to duty, loyalty and service in meeting the challenges of combating security threats of insurgencies and terrorism.
According to the release, President Buhari observed that many of the emerging regional security threats are trans-border in nature, necessitating the strengthening of military cooperation between African states.
He alluded, as an example, to the Multinational Joint Task Force comprising of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Benin and Chad in decimating Boko Haram terrorists in the Lake Chad Basin and other regions.
President Buhari also praised the Armed Forces of Nigeria for defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria, especially in combatting the Boko Haram insurgency in Northeastern Nigeria and for their gallant peacekeeping operations around the world. He said that the Armed Forces continues to be the bastion of the unity of Nigeria.
The Nigerian leader congratulated the graduates for going through the rigorous training of the AFCSC. He encouraged the international graduates to return home with fond memories of the AFCSC in order to strengthen the bond of friendship and cooperation between their countries and Nigeria.
Liberia’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Al-Hassan Conteh, was represented at the colorful program by Mr. Daniel Rogers, First Secretary at Liberia’s Abuja Mission. Accompanying Mr. Rogers were Mrs. Ara Pinky Lloyd, Chairperson of Kaduna Chapter of the Organization of Liberian Association in Nigeria (OLICON) and Mercy Swen Odu, a member of her Executive Committee.
The Armed Forces Command and Staff College of Nigeria was established on May 29, 1976. It administers a 48-week advanced training course in International Affairs and Defense Studies. Its original name was the Army Command and Staff College (ACSC), which was founded in collaboration with the British government to train tactical and operational level officers. It has to date trained more than fifteen thousand Commissioned Officers and four thousand non-Commissioned officers from Nigeria and other friendly states, the release concludes.