The recent killing of 22 soldiers in Borno State by insurgents is a strong indication that the war against terrorism is far from being over. Instead of abating, there are signs that the war is fast assuming a dangerous dimension, which needs to be halted forthwith. The soldiers were killed when suspected Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters invaded a military base in Malam-Fatori in Borno State.
Report said the ISWAP terrorists arrived on gun trucks and attacked the 149th Battalion of the Nigeria Army in Malam-Fatori, a border town with Niger Republic. Survivors said they took the troops by surprise and overpowered them, killing the commanding officer, a lieutenant colonel, among others. The invading fighters also burned buildings, forcing some residents to flee the town. ISWAP is a breakaway faction from Boko Haram in 2016. We also commend the troops for killing 70 terrorists in the encounter.
We commiserate with the families of the slain soldiers. No doubt, they paid the ultimate price in the service of their fatherland. We call on the federal government to compensate the bereaved families for the loss of their loved ones. We also regret that soldiers and civilians have continued to die in the conflict despite government’s claims that the terrorists had been degraded and even technically defeated.
Since the beginning of the year, Boko Haram and ISWAP have increased their attacks in Borno State, killing dozens of farmers and fishermen in surprise attacks. The 15-year-old conflict has claimed nearly 40,000 lives and displaced about 2 million Nigerians from their homes in the North-East region. It has also exacerbated the out-of-school children’s crisis in the zone, as well as hunger and poverty.
Considering the reported the rising firepower of the terrorists, there is urgent need to equip the troops with sophisticated weapons. Apart from equipping the troops, their welfare should be prioritized as well as training and retraining. They must be far ahead of the terrorists for us to win the intractable war. Moreover, the war cannot be allowed to go on interminably. There must be predictable timeframe to end the war. It is time to ruthlessly deal with the terrorists and decimate them once and for all.
The government must also change its approach to the war against the terrorists in view of their audacious attacks on the military. The kinetic strategy must be heightened. The troops must take the war to the hideouts of the terrorists and decimate them. Let the government increase the numerical strength of the military to further boost the war effort. We need more men to withstand the growing insurgency in the North-East and banditry in the North-West and insecurity in the South-East.
Though we commend the strides made so far by the military, the continuous killing of our troops should be minimized. According to Global Firepower, the Nigerian Armed Forces are the most powerful military in sub-Saharan Africa, and the third most powerful military in Africa, behind Egypt and Algeria. It is also ranked 31st in the world.
However, Egypt and Algeria, which have smaller populations than Nigeria, have more military personnel. The Egyptian Army boasts of 310,000 soldiers and the Algerian Army has personnel strength of around 450,000, which is twice that of Nigeria. Algeria is not engaged in any war at the moment, compared to Nigeria. This is why the Nigerian military should urgently recruit more personnel to effectively handle the lingering conflicts in parts of the country. The reliance on vigilantes to assist the military in some troubled spots is only a short-term measure. Nigeria needs twice the strength of its current military personnel put at about 230,000.
The war against the terrorists can be boosted with technology, especially drones and other high precision weapons. As the terrorists are getting more sophisticated, our troops should be ahead of them in all departments of the war. There should be no excuses or margin for error any longer in the prosecution of the war. Recent global conflicts have tilted in favour of parties with more sophisticated weapons.
Unmanned drones have become increasingly effective in hitting enemy targets. Precision missiles fired from a distance have also effectively picked enemy targets. It must be noted that modern warfare relies less on physical combat. It has become obvious that Nigeria cannot win the war against the terrorists without deploying adequate technology. While the increasing annual budget spending for defence is laudable, timely release of the fund has become imperative. Above all, let intelligence gathering and sharing among the troops be intensified.