The Commandant of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji, Air Vice Marshal Hassan I. Alhaji, has highlighted the evolution of Exercise HASKE BIYU from a tactical drill to a whole-of-nation platform with a call for national unity, resilience, built on the foundation of family.
He stated this while addressing the participants and dignitaries at the opening ceremony of this year’s edition of the exercise taking place at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State.
He explained that the 2025 theme reflects the central role of family in values, stability, and resilience while describing the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, “as the mother of the nation and an accomplished leader in her own right.”
“This year, we have expanded the scope to reinforce institutional synergy and national resilience as a pathway to peace and prosperity,” he said.
Air Vice Marshal Alhaji noted that the Armed Forces Command and Staff College has trained security leaders from 41 countries over 49 years of operation and has run Exercise HASKE BIYU for more than three decades.
The exercise, which is originally focused on synergy between the Armed Forces and Police, now integrates all security agencies, first responders, civil society, and the media.
In the broader context, the AFCSC Commandant warned that global turmoil in the next five years could pose existential threats to Nigeria if urgent reforms are not pursued. “We must ramp up food and manufacturing capacity to achieve self-sufficiency and ensure we are beneficiaries, not victims, of global crises,” he stressed.
He tied Nigeria’s internal security and economic stability to achieving the trillion-dollar economy pledged by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urging collective resolve to overcome multidimensional crises.
AVM Alhaji expressed hope that Exercise HASKE BIYU 2025 will deliver its objectives “to the glory of God and the benefit of mankind.”