General Owoye Andrew Azazi CFR FSS MSS DSS GSS psc(+) fwc (retired) is the National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and a former Chief of Defence Staff

Chief of the Defence Staff (Nigeria)

The Chief of Defence Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is occupied by the most senior commissioned officer appointed by the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria....

 (CDS) of Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. The Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo made this appointment.

General Azazi also served as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) between 2006 and 2007. He replaced General Martin Luther Agwai

Martin Luther Agwai

-Early life and education:Agwai was born on November 8, 1948 in Kaduna, a city in Northern Nigeria. He hails from a Christian home and was the President of Fellowship of Christian Students at Government Secondary School, Zaria in 1967....

. Before his appointment as COAS, he was General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division, Kaduna.

Personal Background

General Owoye Andrew Azazi was born at Peretorugbene in present Bayelsa State on 1 February 1952. He had his early education in old Bendel State of Nigeria where he attended Government College Bomadi and graduated in the class of 1968, after which he joined the Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Combatant Cadet- Course 12 0n 3 July 1972.

Career

Azazi was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on 14 December 1974. At the end of the combined training he won the bronze medal for being first in Art subjects. He has served as a Brigade Intelligence Officer, Divisional Intelligence Officer and Colonel Coordination, Headquarters Directorate of Military Intelligence. He was assistant Defence Attaché

Attaché

Attaché is a French term in diplomacy referring to a person who is assigned to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency...

 at the Embassy of Nigeria, Washington DC, United States for three years. He served as a member of the Directing Staff of the Command and Staff College from where he was posted to Lagos Garrison Command as the Intelligence Officer and subsequently to the Directorate of Military Intelligence as Colonel Coordination. He was later posted to the Training and Doctrine Command as Colonel Research and Development and then Director of Training. On graduation from War College, he was appointed Colonel General Staff, 81 Division of the Nigerian Army and later Deputy Chief of Defence Intelligence, Defence Intelligence Agency. General Azazi also served as a member of Directing Staff of the National War College Abuja, rising later to become its Principal Staff Officer Coordination. He was appointed Director of Military Intelligence in 2003.

The senior officer is an external examiner at the National War College and a Guest Lecturer on Military Operations Other Than War and Revolution in Military Affairs. General Azazi was a member of Nigeria’s Defence Policy Review Committee 2000/2001. He was appointed Chairman of the Committee of Nigerian Army in the Next Decade in May 2004. He was appointed the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division, Nigerian Army in January 2005, and subsequently appointed Chief of Army Staff (COAS) in June 2006.

On August 20, 2008, Umaru Yar'Adua

Umaru Musa Yar'Adua

Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was the President of Nigeria and the 13th Head of State. He served as governor of Katsina State in northern Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 28 May 2007. He was declared the winner of the controversial Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May...

 replaced Azazi with Paul Dike

Paul Dike

Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike was the Nigerian Air Force's Chief of the Air Staff from 2006 to 2008. In August, 2008 he was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff....

 as CDS and announced Azazi's retirement from military service.

Azazi, has had one of the fastest growing military careers in present day democracy in Nigeria, between May, 2006 and June, 2007 the General wore the ranks of Major General, Lieutenant General and General.

On October 4, 2010 he was appointed the National Security Adviser by President Goodluck Jonathan for the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Personal life

He is married with five children, three sons in-law, a grand daughter and two grandsons. His hobbies include reading biographies, Nigerian Music and playing squash.

Education

General Azazi holds a MSc

MSC

- Computers:* Mario Strikers Charged* Microsoft Common Console Document, file for the Microsoft Management Console* Microelectronics Support Centre* Microsoft Corporation* MIDI Show Control* Message Sequence Chart...

 in Strategic Studies

Strategic studies

Strategic studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning the relationship between politics, geography and natural resources, economics, and military power, such as the role of intelligence, diplomacy and threats in the preparation and use of force...

 from the University of Ibadan

University of Ibadan

The University of Ibadan is the oldest Nigerian university, and is located five miles from the centre of the major city of Ibadan in Western Nigeria...

, and has completed the Staff Intelligence and Security Course, School of Service Intelligence, Ashford, Kent, UK and Combined Strategic Intelligence Training Programme, Defence Intelligence College, Washington DC, United States. He is a graduate of the Command and Staff College

Command and Staff College

The Command and Staff College was established in 1907 at Quetta, Balochistan, British Raj, now in Pakistan, and is the oldest and the most prestigious institution of the Pakistan Army. It was established in 1905 in Deolali and moved to its present location at Quetta in 1907 under the name of Quetta...

 Nigeria, and the National War College

National War College

The National War College of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. It was officially established on July 1, 1946, as an upgraded replacement for the...

, Nigeria where he won the President and Commander-in-Chief's merit award for best all round performance.

Honors and Military Decorations

• Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR)
• Grand Service Star (GSS)
• Distinguished Service Star (DSS)
• Meritorious Service Star (MSS)
• Force Service Star (FSS)
• Corps Medal of Honour (CMH)
• Pass Staff Course Dagger (PSC+)
• National Defence College Dagger (NDC+)
• President and Commander in Chief's Merit Award

Lectures and participations

His recent seminar and conference highlights include:

• Keynote speaker at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies,National Defence University, Washington DC, January 2009
• Addressed a Seminar at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defence University, Washington DC, September 2008 on Defense Transformation in Africa.
• Participant at the Forum on African Exit Strategies, Institute for Higher National Defence Studies
  Institut des hautes études de défense nationale
  The Institut des hautes études de défense nationale is a French public institution for expertise and sensibilisation towards defence matters, founded in 1936 by Admiral Raoul Castex...
  
   (IHEDN), Paris, June 2004
• Member Curriculum Review Workshop for Senior Leadership Seminar on the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies/National Defence University, USA
• Facilitator, Seminar on Energy and Security in Africa March 2005
• Participant in the OECD/DAC Workshop on Security System Reforms held in Ghana in December 2005

He was recently a guest lecturer

Lecturer

Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...

 at the Department of Psychology of the Post-Graduate School, University of Ibadan and the Friedrich Ebert Siftung Institute Sensitization Training Workshop for Experts and Personnel in the Security Sector in West Africa. He is also a Guest Lecturer on the Span of Command and Leadership at the National Defense College, Abuja, Nigeria.

External links

• http://www.Nigerian-army.org