Profile Of Major General Lucky Irabor,  Chief Of Defence Staff

Major General Lucky E.O. IRABOR is the new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)

Before the appointment he was in charge of Training and Operations at the Defence Headquarters, Armed Forces of Nigeria.

 

Mr Irabor, who hails from Agbor in Delta State, is a Regular Course 34 officer and was promoted major general in 2014.

He’s a trained engineer, married with children.

 

 

 

He is an Alumnus of the Ghana Armed Forces Staff College Ghana, the National Defence College Bangladesh and Harvard Kennedy School of Government Executive Programme, USA.

 

Major General Lucky Irabor is a trained Engineer from Obafemi Awolowo University and holds two Masters Degrees from the University of Ghana, Accra, and Bangladesh University of Professionals, Dhaka.

 

As the CDTOPs, he oversees training and operations in the Armed Forces of Nigeria under the direction of the Chief of Defence Staff. Specifically, he undertakes periodic reviews of a broad range of policies and activities relating to training and operations in the Armed forces. In addition to his schedules, he is the Chairman of the AFN Committee on COVID-19.

 

The Committee is working to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease in the establishments of the Armed forces in line with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control protocols.

 

The Committee is also giving support to the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 including the deployment of Medical Personnel across the country to boost the available manpower in the management of the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria.

 

The General was formerly the Theatre Commander of OPERATION LAFIYA DOLE, North-East Nigeria as well as Force Commander Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad Basin Area. The operations focused on Counter Terrorism/Counterinsurgency.

 

He is a distinguished awardee of several militaries, ECOMOG and United Nations Awards and Medals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In January 2017, Mr Irabor, as the Theatre Commander in the military campaign against the insurgency, distinguished himself as an honest officer when he called a press conference to admit the bombing in error of an IDP camp in Rann village of Kala Balge Local Government Area of Borno State.

 

He said the military had mistaken the camp for a terrorists’ hideout. The incident led to the death of many displaced persons.

 

“We got a coordinate and I directed that the air force should go to address the problem.

 

“Unfortunately the strike was conducted but it turned out that the locals somewhere in Rann were affected,” he said at the press conference.

 

His proactive move to make the incident public even before journalists got wind of it and honest disclosure had helped the government in managing the crisis.

 

He also won the respect of many Nigerians for taking responsibility for the actions of his troops.

 

 

The senior officer is widely travelled with some posting to include; He served as Commander, Training and Doctrine Command of the Nigerian Army, TRADOC, Minna.

MajorGeneral Irabor also served as Chief of Training and Operations, Defence headquarters.

He Served as Theatre Commander, Operation LAFIYA DOLE.

Also he was a member of the RC 34 and once served as Chief of Staff to the Chief of Army Staff; he was head of the Multi-National Joint Task Force as its Field. Commander.