In response to the recent bomb attacks in Gwoza local government area of Borno state, Brigadier General Sani Kukasheka Usman (Rtd), former Nigerian Army spokesperson, has said that Nigeria’s security forces are not adequately equipped to handle the dynamic security challenges facing the country.
He said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, while condemning the violence in Gwoza as an act of desperation by Boko Haram terrorists aimed at causing chaos and havoc in society.
“The horrible attack is condemnable and it shows a sign of desperation on the part of the Boko Haram terrorists to cause chaos and havoc among the society,” Usman stated.
“Given the dynamic nature of the security challenges that we have in the country, I don’t think that the security forces are having enough of what they require to deal with the security challenges, that is one. Secondly, you have to also conceptualise issues anywhere, and when you talk about counter-insurgency, counter terrorism efforts, now, initially we’ve been talking about a whole society approach, but now we’re talking about a whole nation approach. ”
The former Nigerian Army spokesperson highlighted the need for a whole-nation approach in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism efforts, moving beyond just military action and warned against underestimating the resilience of the terrorists.
“The most important thing is that people matter. If you look at the counter-insurgency that I’ve said, put it on a 100% scale. The total military effort is not even up to 35%, so that means 65% of it is supposed to be done by other actors other than the military. To what extent have we involved them in dealing with this issue?” Usman questioned.
He added, “The whole counter-insurgency is predicated on three things. First, to defeat the insurgence. Second, to make room for humanitarian activities and thirdly, to bring back law and order and life will continue. If you look at it, we are on the third phase of it, to the extent that many people have gone back to their ancestral home. Farming activities have started. One important thing that we tend to forget is that the resilience of the terrorists is always there.
“The issue of security education and maintaining more vigilance and being security conscious is very important, not taking things for granted. Some of these issues are local. To what extent have we empowered the local community so that they can be dealing with security challenges?”
Usman praised the training of the Nigerian military, but called for increased collaboration, especially with intelligence and academic communities.
“I think we have one of the best trained militaries on the African continent, given the courses and all the rest. What is required is the issue of more collaboration especially with the intelligence and the academic community.
“Sometimes we don’t take things seriously. We take it with levity. We have to be realistic. These things are real. The Boko Haram are resilient so we can’t take things for granted.”
Melissa Enoch
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