By Albert Akpor

General Officer Commanding, GOC, Training and Doctoring Command, TRADOC, Major-General  Joseph Okunbor has charged Army personnel to remain focussed and always display high sense of integrity in their dealing both within and outside the force.

The army chief spoke at the occasion of the 2012  practical promotion examinations of personnel from  the rank of  Lieutenant to Captain which took place at Sango- Otta, Ogun State.

Major-General Okunbor told the 276 army lieutenants that  promotion from one rank to another comes through hard work, focus and dedication to duty, stressing that: “As officers, you are expected to display high sense of integrity  and dedication to duty.”

Continuing, the army general said any personnel caught cheating during the one week training and examination will squarely face  the music.  According to him: “All of you are here to test your worthiness of being promoted to the next rank and so, you are expected to show high sense of integrity, honesty and competence.  All us who wear these senior ranks today passed through similar examinations.

Therefore, it is not aimed at witch-hunting  anybody;  rather it is aimed at producing officers who are worthy to be promoted to the next rank.  The military places high premium on intelligence and integrity, so you must not cheat.  If you are caught, you are on your own.

This examination is once in a year, so if you fail, you repeat but at the third failure, you pack your bags and baggage and leave us alone.  The training and monitoring command is the think-tank of the army, it is the intelligence unit and we are committed to producing the best personnel for the army.  That is why this examination is taken very seriously”.

The examination was categorised into practical and theory.  At the practical aspect,  army personnel are expected to be tested on their shooting prowess,  while the theoretical examination focused on map reading, current affairs and several other aspects.