The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has called on Nigerians to learn combat skills as a means of self-protection amid rising insecurity.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, General Musa compared martial arts training—such as Karate, Taekwondo, and Judo—to essential survival skills like swimming and driving.
“When asked whether Nigerians should learn combat skills for self-defence, he said, ‘That one should be taken like learning to drive or learning how to swim. Whether we have war or not, it is a survival instinct. In Europe, swimming is compulsory. Learning and teaching about security is compulsory because you have to understand what security is.’”
He also suggested that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) should integrate unarmed combat training into its program to better prepare graduates for everyday encounters with criminals.
“That’s what the NYSC is supposed to do, but it has been watered down to three weeks,” he said. “It is important to give every Nigerian security awareness at whatever level. Self-defence, unarmed combat, swimming, driving—these are critical skills for human survival. We should never take them for granted because they prepare us for the future. The world we live in now is dangerous; there are individuals who do not mean people well and can kill for any reason.”
General Musa further emphasised that security is a collective responsibility, urging citizens to stay vigilant and be attentive to their surroundings to identify suspicious individuals.
