Three-day Specialized Training the Nigeria Air Force Legal Officers

The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in partnership with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) hosted a three-day specialized training on civil-military relations for the Nigerian Airforce (NAF) Legal Officers in Lagos State. This training had in attendance 14 NAF Legal Officers across 17 bases in the country, as well as members of civil society organizations and the media.

The general objective of the specialized training was to improve the capacity of the NAF Legal Officers in mainstreaming human rights into their operations, especially in their interactions with the civilian population. Additionally, the training aimed at improving the interactions between the civilian population and the Airforce.

Speaking at the training, the Director-General of IPCR, Dr Bakut T. Bakut stressed the significance of this training in promoting human rights and supremacy of the rule of law in military operations. He noted that the training was designed to improve the capacity of the participants and promote existing civil-military relations in Nigeria.

Over the course of the three days, participants were taken through modules that covered some of the following areas: Interactions between human rights and civil-military relations in Nigeria; Democratic Accountability Mechanisms for Human Rights; the different levels of the legal framework for human rights accountability; the duties and responsibilities of the civilian population and the civil society in promoting civil-military relations in Nigeria et cetera.

Acknowledging the significance of the knowledge transfer that emerged from the training, Group Captain Alieru urged the Air Force Legal Officers to embrace the learnings from the training and implemented them when they return to their duty stations.

For FES Nigeria, the training represented a significant step toward improving Nigeria’s security architecture and helped NAF Legal Officers to forge better engagement with the civilians, including CSOs and media.