Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, on Monday said the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) adopted the non-kinetic approach in the war against terrorism following the realisation that the desire to win the war using the kinetic option had become unrealistic.
General Musa spoke in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at the National Security Course on Psychological Operations and Strategic Communication 1 (NSCPOSC-1) held at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) Abuja, an event organised by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
The forum had as theme: “Winning Hearts and Minds for National Cohesion and Development.”
Represented by Director, Training, Defence Headquarters, Rear Admiral Matthew Daupreye, General Musa said using non-kinetic approach in the fight against terrorism and other threats to national security will help in winning over the hearts and minds of the people.
Musa, who stated that warfare had gone beyond annihilating the adversary, added that , said States now wage war through non-kinetic action.
According to him: “Non-kinetic approach is the use of informational, psychological, diplomatic, economic, social and civil-military cooperation as part of instruments of national power to pursue national interests.
“It involves collaborations between the military and civil actors to achieve national interest through the application of non-lethal force or means that are sub-lethal or not intended to be lethal to dispose of the enemy.”
He stressed the need for greater inter-agency collaboration, noting that in addition to psychological operations and strategic communication, helps reduce acts of terrorism to the barest minimum.
He said a combination of conventional warfare, irregular warfare, terrorism and counter insurgency was asymmetric warfare waged by resistance groups, where you deliver forces or prevent the conventional force and economic intimidation in countries.
Earlier, Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI), Major General Emmanuel Undiandeye, highlighted the importance of psychological operations as a way of winning the war against insurgency.
Undiandeye said the five-day programme, facilitated by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Safe Neighbourhood Initiative, provided a unique opportunity and platform to understand the dynamics of psychological operations and strategic communications.