 The Senate President, represented today by Special Advisor on Security Matters, Major General Salih Miner, retired. The Governor of Kaduna State, His Excellency Malam Naseo Aerofai. Members of the National Assembly present. The Honorable Minister of Defense, Mansou Dan Ali. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defense, Mrs. Muratubata Darawa. The Chief of Defense Staff, General Gabriel Ololishaki. Representative today by Air Vice-Chancellor E.O. Alibi. All of the 7th Chiefs present. The Commandant, Niger Air Defense Academy, Major General A.O. Yibadi. Directing Staff, Senior Military Officers, Your Excellencies of the Diplomatic Call, Royal Father's Year Present. The Graduates, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. I'm delighted to be here today on this occasion of the Passing Out Parade of the Cadets of the 65 Regular Course Army and 66 Regular Course Navy and Air Force. I was here for this same event in September 2017, representing the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Forces, President Muhammad Mubahari, whose very warm felicitations I bring here to you today. May I congratulate the Cadets of the 65 Regular Course Niger Air Army and 66 Regular Course Niger Air Navy and Niger Air Force on this occasion of your passing out. This day recognizes your commendable success after a period in the Defense Academy that has tested your intellect and resilience. Congratulations, very well done. I must also congratulate you on the excellent parade which you have put forward. This is certainly world class. My hearty congratulations also go to family and friends of the graduates, especially parents and spouses. I thank you, Almighty God, that your personal sacrifices and deprivations to see your loved ones through these calls have all paid off and I congratulate you very warmly indeed. As you're all aware, the administration of President Muhammad Mubahari came to office determined to make an impact in three main areas, security, the fight against corruption and the economy. We can say that recent positive developments in these areas have certainly showed that despite the challenges along the way, we can see the great light at the end of the tunnel. There is certainly, our nation is certainly poised for a new lease of life. In the area of corruption, the President, as you know, has been determined to ensure that we do not have a repeat of what has gone on in previous years. And this is the reason why he has taken a strong stand on grand corruption. By grand corruption, I mean they're looting directly of resources from the Nigerian Treasury. He has insisted that that will not happen again. And it is for that reason that the administration has been able, despite earning 60% less than previous administrations, been able to spend on capital in particular 1.7 trillion in the 2016 budget and 1.7 trillion in the 2017 budget, the highest in the history of the country. It explains why it is possible, earning far less than any previous administration in the same period, earning at least 60% less. We're able to invest in infrastructure, especially railways and roads. We're able to invest in the Lagos-Kang railway, which is already coming up to the bottom, to the bottom end of the rail. We're also able to invest in the second Niger bridge. We're able to invest in the Mambula hydro product, abandoned 40 years ago. We're able to invest in the Lagos-Ibarna expressway and several other such capital projects. It is because of his determination to stop grand corruption that we're also able, in our social investment scheme, to do the largest social investment programme in the history of our country. We have spent so far 109 billion Naira on social investments. And this has resulted in the employment of 500,000 young men and women in our N-Power programme. Each of those 500,000 people receives a regular stipend. Many of them are involved in teaching. Some are involved in extension farm work. Others are involved in public health, in the public health reconnaissance in different parts of our country. Every single local government of Nigeria has N-Power graduates working there. Aside from that, we have the homegrown school feeding programme, which is now in 27 states of Nigeria and feeding 9.2 million children every single day. Aside from that, 82,000 cooks have been employed by the homegrown school feeding programme across the states. We have also, because of the President's commitment to ensuring that the bottom of the pyramid in Nigeria are given the same sorts of assistance as all others get. The micro-credit programme, again the largest in the history of the country, has already begun last year, two years ago, and has now reached the point where the petty traders under the trader monistime are getting their own micro-credit. Today, we are targeting 2 million of the poorest in the value chain in the trader value chain, the petty traders, the meshan, those who sell in their little trades, those whose inventory may not be more than 3,009. All of them are now receiving micro-credit, and when they pay back within a six-month period, they're entitled to even more credit, and when they pay that back, they're entitled to even more credit. We intend to touch every single Nigerian because the resources of this great country, if they are not stolen, are more than adequate to deal with many of the poverty concerns that we have in our country. The administration of President Mohammad Bahrain has also focused on security, and I will speak very briefly about what has been done in order to reposition our military to perform their duties effectively. This administration has embarked on some crucial changes in its structure and modes of operation. Two additional divisions have been created, as well as several new forward-operating bases, to enhance the strategic, operational, and tactical performance of the armed forces in the various sectors of operations. In a world in which the forms and manifestations of insecurity are constantly evolving, law enforcement responses have to equally evolve in order not to just keep up, but to stay ahead. Also, as part of efforts to modernize our armed forces, the administration has intensified the training and retraining of our officers and men in addition to providing new platforms and other resources. The Nigerian Army, for instance, recently acquired multi-barrel rocket launchers and armored vehicles to improve operational effectiveness, as well as attack helicopters for the Nigerian Army aviation call. The Nigerian Navy recently commissioned into operation six new fast patrol boats, NNS M'Guru, Ekulu, Shiroro, Ose, Gongola, and Kalaba respectively. The Nigerian Air Force has also just acquired Diamond 40 and 42 aircraft for maritime patrol and intelligence surveillance, MI-35M attack helicopters, Augusta 109 power helicopters for incision and medical evaluation. A few months ago, the federal government completed a deal with the United States government for the purchase of Super Tucano A-29 aircraft for counter-insurgency operations. There are also commendable efforts going on to produce military hardware locally in partnership with foreign and local industries. The best known example of this is the Saigumi, the Nigerian Air Force's first indigenous operational unmanned aerial vehicle, UAVs. Earlier this year, this administration signed into law the harmonized terms and conditions of service for officers and soldiers to ensure an improvement in the welfare of service personnel. Across the services, there has been an upgrade of infrastructure, construction of new bags across the country, renovation of existing ones, construction of medical facilities, and so on. The administration is determined to look in particular at the welfare of the men of our troops everywhere, especially in the areas where there are still conflicts. The administration is concerned that all of those who are fighting on behalf of this country and for the protection of so many that they are adequately provided for. And this explains why the President has already ordered a review of all of these issues of welfare and issues concerning many of our troops, especially those who are in areas of conflict at the moment. And the Niger Delta, the efforts of the military, have helped reduce militancy substantially. Oil output has risen considerably, with the resultant effect on the site and stability of government revenues. The federal government's Amnesty program is also on course, as is the new vision for the Niger Delta. Our umbrella initiative aimed at ensuring that the people fully benefit from the wealth of their religion is also in place. The Popu Haram insurgency in the northeast, which for years posed an important threat to the sovereignty and survival of the nation, has been significantly degraded. And relative normalcy has returned to many of the towns and villages in the region. Today, residents of Borno State are able to celebrate their religious festivals without the blanket of fear that once kept them permanently indoors. Schools, markets and roads are being reopened daily. Farmers are returning to the farms, from which they were forced to flee in the wake of Popu Haram insurgents. In the last two years, more than a million displaced persons have been reunited with their loved ones. Over a hundred of our kidnapped girls from Chibok have regained their freedom after more than two years in captivity, while the plight of the dafty girls was prompted dealt with, in addition to the thousands of other captives who have since been rescued through special military operations. We are committed to ensuring the release of all the young women and men-helping captivity. A few days ago, Mr President spoke personally to the anguished mother of Lea Scheigel, the Christian girl who is the only girl left as part of the dafty girls still in Popu Haram in captivity. Mr President assured her mother that she would, that God helping us, she would be returned home safe and that commitment, Mr President, has made not just to her mother, not just with respect to her mother and this girl, but also all of the girls and all of the young men who are in captivity today. All over the Northeast, our people have been provided with a chance to begin the urgent task of rebuilding their lives and livelihoods. The federal government is working with the states, the international community, the non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations to help achieve this. I must especially commend the efforts and resilience of the members of our armed forces for the chance tries recorded so far in the fight against insurgents. The ongoing military stabilization operations in the Northeast will continue until full normalcy is restored. Across the north-central and northwest of the country, we've made progress with regard to stemming the tide of communal violence, farmer-headsmen clashes, cattle-rossing and kidnapping. The special intervention forces deployed to the hogspots, combining ground forces with air support, have helped put the purveyors of violence on the back foot. We are not yet out of the woods, of course, but the progress we have seen in recent months emboldened us to continue the fight. We will continue to demonstrate zero tolerance for crime and criminals, those who take the law into their own hands, who bear arms illegally, and who seek to profit from the climate of fear and insecurity will be decidedly dealt with. That remains our promise to the people of this nation, who elected us to keep them safe and secure. The peace and stability of our dear country will continue to be of utmost importance. Distinguished guest ladies and gentlemen, security is not only about law enforcement, it is also about building the right relationships that underpin the development of secure societies. This is why the administration has been fully committed from the start to strengthening existing relations between Nigeria and our neighbours. It has also been clear to us that there is no way that we can achieve the security we seek without the cooperation and support of our neighbours. The resulting strategic synergy of efforts, exemplified by the revitalisation of the multinational joint task force, has proved to be very effective in curtailing Boko Haram from ISIS West Africa in the Lake Chad region. Today's graduating cadets will be taking their place in a military that is on the run, destined and determined to take its place amongst the most powerful militaries in the world. But it will also be a military that is facing an array of potent threats and enemies. The days of conventional warfare now appear to be almost behind us. Today's landscape presents a range of non-state actors, thus in asymmetric warfare. Indeed, today's landscape extends well beyond the time-tested terrains of land, sea and air into the vast territories of cyberspace. The internet and new digital technologies have provided a platform for the weaponisation to unprecedented levels of news and speech. Many of the enemies you will confront will be permanently faceless or concealed, leveraging technology to weight warfare that has the potential to be even more destructive than anything the world has ever seen. We must develop a policy on cyber warfare that has as its strategic focus, one, the prevention of cyber attacks against critical national infrastructure, two, minimising national vulnerability to cyber attacks, three, minimising damage and recovery time from cyber attacks. A successful completion of a rigorous and demanding course of this nature no doubt imbues you today's graduating cadets with a sense of self-esteem and accomplishment. You must maintain that spirit of accomplishment as you prepare to face the tasks ahead of you. We all have very high expectations of you that you and your senior colleagues will greatly contribute to a quota to the sustenance of our national security and the defence of the territorial integrity of Nigeria. I bid before I commend our men and women in the armed forces who have carried faith with the current democratic dispensation over the course of the last 19 years. The subordination of the military to civil authority is a cherished tradition that is one of the cornerstones of democratic existence and has in addition helped promote military professionalism in all parts of the world. It is a tradition that must be sustained and strengthened in our country. For graduating cadets from sister African states of the Republic of Togo and Benin, you have performed excellently well and you made friends in Nigeria. I urge you to continue to raise the power of excellence which you have imbibed and to be good ambassadors of the Nigerian Defence Academy as you return to your home countries. And an army. An army is only as good as the character and competence of its officers and men. There is no profession that requires these attributes in a greater degree than they are. When your duty is to put your life on the line, repeated for the safety of millions of your countrymen, the nation is blessed if our men and women of the armed forces are not only persons of skill but of character. We are doomed if the reverse is the case. The duty you have taken on by your military commission is a no-blast available in our nation. No other is as honorable. It is by your courage, your loyalty and integrity that you can truly deserve the trust and confidence of your nation and countrymen. Finally, let me commend the commandant and the entire academic community, academic community for the excellent work that you are doing, raising new generations of military personnel who will tirelessly defend the territorial integrity of our great nation. I pray that this current call of men who are graduating today will not only do our nation proud, and that they will serve the military long enough to do justice to all the confidence that our nation places so much in you. Thank you very much. God bless Nigeria.