MAJ GEN IM YUSUF TAKES A BOW, AFTER 33 YEARS IN SERVICE …NDA Holds Pulling Out Parade In His Honour
After a meritorious service to the nation, spanning 33 years, Maj Gen Ibrahim Manu Yusuf was today, 26 June 2023, honoured by the Nigerian Defence Academy with a Pulling Out Parade. Which brings to a formal close, an impressive service of more than 3 decades in the Nigerian Army. A career that saw him hold many notable command and staff appointments and retiring as the 31st Commandant NDA.
The symbolic event which involved a series of activities, held at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Afaka. While delivering his valedictory speech, during the Pulling Out Parade, Maj Gen IM Yusuf, a member of 37 Regular Course expressed his appreciation to past Commandants of NDA, Principal Staff Officers of the Academy, staff and cadets of the Academy for their unwavering support to him while he was Commandant.
“I also have to appreciate my predecessors, former commandants who laid the foundation for us to build. Each and every one of them made positive impacts in the Academy and paved the way for its growth and development. Perhaps more importantly, I want to recognize and appreciate the Academy staff and Instructors (Deputy Commandant, AP, DMT, CBC, Directors, Deans, Chief Instructors, Senior Instructors, academic and non-teaching staff and soldiers). I give them all the credit – without their selfless service and commitment, my tenure could have been mundane, lacklustre and a complete failure”, he disclosed.
Maj Gen Yusuf recounted with nostalgia, that his journey in the military began in 1980 at the Nigerian Military School, Zaria before joining the NDA in 1985 and successfully passed out on 22 September 1990.
According to him, his journey in the military was characterized by many deeds, debacles and crescendos. He added, “During my sojourn in the Army, I had the privilege and honor to play an active part in the execution of the constitutional mandate assigned to the Nigerian Army”. Gen Yusuf revealed that, during the course of his career in the NA, he spent 3 years between 1993 – 1996 in peace support operations in Liberia, under ECOMOG. He has also served as Brigade Commander, 21 Armoured Brigade, during Operation ZAMAN LAFIYA and subsequently, as GOC 7 Division during Op LAFIYA DOLE, leading his Division during Op DEEP PUNCH, which he described as “the largest, single most successful, most decisive and most enduring counter insurgency operations in the Northeast Theatre”.
The outgone Commandant who noted that his destiny is inextricably linked with NDA. Disclosed that, prior to his appointment as Commandant NDA, he had done four tours of duty in the Academy as an Instructor, OC Equitation Wing, Military Assistant to Commandant, Acting Adjutant and Academy Registrar. “My professional ambition had always been to serve as Commandant NDA and to retire from the military from this privileged appointment, in which I feel I have attained my highest goal in military service and expended all my objectives and strategies for the betterment of the Academy and the Armed Forces of Nigeria”, he revealed.
To this end, he disclosed that members of 69 Regular Course and 70 Regular Course remain the best trained cadets from the Academy since it’s inception in 1964. He added that under his command the Academy was reconfigured to produce junior leaders with the capacity to deal with the current and future security and defence challenges confronting the nation.
The out gone Commandant also took the opportunity to reel out some of the infrastructural projects executed under his command, including some that have been abandoned for 20 years. Some of these projects include, an 800 Capacity Hostel for cadets, 5 Blocks of Science Laboratory, Hall of Fame, sevaral staff accommodations, Sport Complex, Arms Store for cadets battalions, Cadets Brigade Headquarters, Officers Quarters and Soldiers Quarters. Others are Civilian Quarters, NDA-NAF Base Link Road, Perimeter Fortification, State of the Art Athletics Track and a Parade Ground, among others.
In the same vein, Maj Gen IM Yusuf enumerated ongoing projects to include, a 2.5MW Solar Power plant at Afaka, a 600KW Solar Plant for Cadet Lines, Primary and secondary schools, 2,300 – Capacity Cadets’ Mess, Department of Psychology and Department of Languages building complexes.
He attributed the successes recorded to the support he received from the NDA Governing Council, erstwhile Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi (rtd), former CDS,
General LEO Irabor and the former Service Chiefs. He also thanked former Commandants of NDA for laying a good foundation on which he could build on, as well as all staff and cadets of the Academy.
Conclusively, Maj Gen IM Yusuf urged the cadets to always remember the Oath of Allegiance they took. Saying that, they should always be of good character and battle ready. He further charged the cadets to remain loyal to both civil and military authorities.
General Ibrahim Manu Yusuf assumed office on 08 July 2021 as the 31st Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy. His tenure was marked by notable changes in cadets’ training curriculum and the adoption of a 10 Year NDA Strategic Plan (2023 – 2033) among many key achievemens. The period also witnessed vast infrastructural development across the Academy.
Highlights of the Pulling Out Ceremony include, a parade in honour of Maj Gen IM Yusuf, mounted by cadets and officers of the Academy, Group Photographs, Static Combat Shooting and the solemn Pulling Out.
