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By Lawrence Agbo
Former Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has said Nigeria’s fight against insurgency cannot be concluded within a short timeframe, stressing that such conflicts are deeply rooted and require sustained national effort.
Speaking on Politics Today, Buratai noted that insurgency, once established, is difficult to eliminate quickly due to its ideological nature.
“Once you allow insurgency to rear its ugly head in any country, it is always difficult, very, very difficult to clear it within a specific short time frame,”
“It is wishful thinking to believe that this kind of insurgency can be cleared overnight. These are people with ideology and beliefs,” he said.
He maintained that despite ongoing attacks, insurgents are not overwhelming Nigerian troops.
“I don’t see that the insurgency is somehow overwhelming the troops,” he added.
According to him, the military has made progress, supported by improved capabilities such as armed and surveillance drones, although more equipment and operational platforms are still needed.
“We are lucky now that we have more enablers like the drones, the ones that are armed and the ones for recognition, and a lot of platforms have been injected. But the military still needs more of such platforms and the enablers because the land mass of the north east is quite enormous,” the former Chief of Army said.
Buratai identified manpower shortages, harsh terrain, and weather conditions in the North-East as key challenges affecting military operations.
“And then the challenge of manpower and equipment is a challenge.”
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He also highlighted logistical issues, including the need to rotate troops for rest, as factors affecting effectiveness on the front lines.
“We must understand one challenge, the challenge of being on the front. It’s not that easy, the issue of the terrain, the issue of the weather, and then in terms of supply and having troops to have some rest. All those things are the factors that militate against the troops’ effectiveness, and not the equipment only.
“So the human factor in terms of its ability to resist the weather elements and so on. It contributes, but by and large, we have seen the reassurances of the service chiefs, the chief of defence staff, and the chief of Army staff, they have been to the north east and the inspector general of police was also at the north east based on the instruction of mr president comander in chief and they have reassured nigerians athat they will handle the situation,” he said.
The retired army chief emphasised that defeating insurgency requires a “whole-of-society” approach involving the military, intelligence agencies, government, and civilians.
He described the conflict as a “people’s war,” embedded within society and demanding collective responsibility.
It requires the totality of the government, the military, the intelligence agency and the people and it has generally been referred to as the people’s war.”
“It is a problem embedded within the society and it requires everybody’s effort to solve.”
“We have always mentioned that it is wishful thinking to believe that this kind of insurgency can be cleared overnight. These are people with ideology and beliefs,” he added.
On the issue of terrorism financing, Buratai said merely naming suspects is insufficient, stressing that decisive action must be taken against those involved.
He added that individuals linked to terror financing are known and still operate within society.
You cannot say I should be responsible for naming the financiers of terror…It’s not just about mentioning names. Action should be taken. These individuals are still within society today, and they are known.
