By Sumaila Ogbaje

The Commander of the Guards Brigade, Nigerian Army, Brig.-Gen. Adebisi Onasanya, has advised graduating students of Command Day Secondary School, Abuja, to be bold, kind, and strive for excellence in their future pursuits.

Onasanya gave the charge at the school’s annual Speech and Prize-Giving Ceremony, on Thursday in Abuja.

He urged students to embrace the future with courage, curiosity, and character.

“Your achievements today are proof of your resilience and commitment. But this is just the beginning. The world beyond these gates awaits your innovation, discipline, and integrity,” he said.

The commander described the event as more than a ceremony, but a celebration of excellence and community spirit.

He praised the teachers, parents, and school management for their unwavering dedication to shaping the next generation of leaders.

He also reminded students that setbacks were part of the journey, urging them to see every failure as a lesson and every success as a stepping stone.

“Go out there and make a difference. Your future is bright—and the world is watching,” he concluded.

Earlier, the Commandant of the school, Lt.-Col. Ovie Akise, advised the graduating students to be good ambassador of the school in their future endeavors by maintaining highest level of discipline and dedication.

According to him, let us not wait for the future to happen. Let us deal with it. Let us continue to empower, to guide, and to monitor the values we wish to see in the next generation.

“In every lesson, in every move, and in every decision, let us shape leaders who we would be proud of. As we celebrate excellence today, may we also renew our commitment to the journey ahead.

“Let us rise together to the challenges of raising a generation that will not just inherit tomorrow, but lead it,” he said.

The Guest speaker, a renowned academic and motivational speaker, Dr Longman Sambo, in his lecture titled “Empowering the Future”, called on students to be bold dreamers, courageous learners, and compassionate leaders in a world desperately in need of solutions.

Sambo recounted his own humble beginnings and the discipline it took to rise above challenges, urging students not to be passive bystanders in life, but active agents of change in their communities.

“Leaders don’t wait to be perfect, they just start, they show up, they care, they create.

“Your future is not waiting for you, it is depending on you,” he said.

Sambo cautioned against the misuse of social media and online platforms, urging students to choose innovation over destruction.

“Will you use tech to disrupt or to develop? To design or to destroy? The choice is yours,” he said.

The Father of the Day, retired Brig.-Gen. Mustapha Onoiveta, commended the school for imparting excellence in the students, as well as the Nigerian army for enhancing the quality of education in the country.

According to him, one of the best things the army has done is the establishment of its own schools within its barracks.

“From the army children’s schools in the barracks to the army command schools, both day and morning.

“I imagine without these schools, how students of military personnel will have fared in terms of education, we will have had to start carrying our children out of the barracks into schools in town.

“But to the glory of Allah and the wisdom of the previous service chiefs, to have established the command schools that are full of opportunity to have our children raised, being given quality education and performing very well and excelling,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event featured awards of prizes to deserving students in different categories. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)