In the face of massive slaughtering of our soldiers in matale one would have thought the joint chief of staff's job is to coordinate an effective response using the air force, army and navy.

But as it appears or seem to appear it looks like the post is purely ceremonial.

The chief of defence staff unfortunately is only an administrative head of the armed forces. He is only a co-minister (or de facto) with the responsibility of handling the paper works coming from each of the forces before passing them to the defence ministry. Paper works such as budget, contract approval, promotions, etc.

As far as operations is concerned, the only office that can/should (in Nigeria) coordinate all forces is the president. He deals directly with the various forces. He coordinates missions and is supported by the national security adviser.

Do not mix this up with that of the USA. In the USA, the president’s role is supported by the defence secretary (minister of defence), and that’s why their chief of defence staff (which I still refer to as co-minister) is in a position to direct operations too.

In summary, our ministry of defence is purely administrative while USA’s ministry of defence is operational. That is why their minister/co-minister leads war missions while ours don’t.

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Good insight. But the nomenclature joint chief of staff gives one the impression that is the hub of all operations. Thanks anyway.

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KnowAll:
In the face of massive slaughtering of our soldiers in matale one would have thought the joint chief of staff's job is to coordinate an effective response using the air force, army and navy.

But as it appears or seem to appear it looks like the post is purely ceremonial.

ceremonial or not, don't engage yourself in any criminal or terrorists activities

yarimo:
ceremonial or not, don't engage yourself in any criminal or terrorists activities