*Pix above: Dr Muhammed Badaru(m) and the military officers
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Defence Minister, Muhammad Badaru, has harped on strategic leadership as panacea to military operation in its quest to end the incessant terrorism in the country.
Lamenting that terrorism persists in many parts of Northern Nigeria because the Nigerian military does not have enough personnel, the Defence Minister expressed gratitude that despite the challenges, the military has continued to decimate the terror groups and recently killed seven top leaders of the groups.
“The military are not enough, what the bandits do is take advantage of soft targets,” he said. “They find out where there is absence of the military, they attack and run to the bushes.”
Mr Badaru’s narration of insufficient soldiers is not new as previous military and defence chiefs had expressed similar views.
Although the military is originally expected to protect the country from external threats, the security concerns across Nigeria have led to soldiers being deployed to almost all of Nigeria’s 36 states and Abuja.
The Bola Tinubu administration has promised massive recruitment into the security agencies including the military.
On Tuesday, Mr Badaru spoke in an interview with journalists after addressing the members of Senior Course 46 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji Military Cantonment, Kaduna, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The minister, who was on a working visit, delivered an address to the course participants at a seminar organised by the college on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism.
The theme for the seminar was “Imperatives of Operational and Tactical Level Leadership for Enhanced Counter Terrorism, Counter Insurgency Operations in Nigeria.”
Mr Badaru said, “The government’s commitment to defeating insurgency is a comprehensive security strategy and community engagement remains unwavering.
“We are pursuing a whole-of-the-government approach in handling the counter-insurgency and anti-banditry operations.”
PREMIUM TIMES has reported how various terror groups operate in different parts of northern Nigeria. Apart from the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east, terrorists, locally called bandits, operate in many states in the North-west and North-central.
The terrorists attack communities, travellers and government institutions, killing and kidnapping victims.
In his speech, Mr Badaru expressed optimism that all the terror groups would be defeated.
He disclosed that the military would deploy technology for surveillance and tracing to find the terrorists and deal with them decisively.
“From what you have seen, in the last few months, the military have killed about seven big leaders of the insurgency,” he said. “We are working hard to continue defeating them, and we are making progress.”
On the issue of a non-military approach to the fight against insurgency, he said many of the insurgents were surrendering.
He, therefore, said that they were accepting and de-radicalising the insurgents that surrendered and re-integrating them back into society, while those who didn’t want to repent would be dealt with and decimated./PLEASE SHARE
