Immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Yusuf Buratai, has punctured claim that the terror gang, Boko Haram, has been technically defeated.
Answering questions from lawmakers who screened him along with other former Service Chiefs ahead of their confirmation as Non career ambassadors designates, the former Chief of Army Staff stunned the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs led by Mohammed Bulkachuwa as he told them that there was no end in sight to the insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country.
Buratai who told the lawmakers that insurgents would continue to constitute menace to security of the country in the next twenty years called for concerted efforts to surmount the Boko Haram terror group.
He identified lack of social infrastructures, poor access to Western education which he noted has fuelled poverty in the Northeast and ultimately, made the youth amenable to suicidal doctrines of Boko Haram.
He said:”Our troops are also collaborating with Chadian and Cameroonian troops. We recorded success, but the terrorists have permeated into the society.
“My state (Borno) is an epicentre, where this indoctrination has penetrated so deep. They (insurgents) have won the communities to their side. That is why they (communities) keep Boko Haram. So it is complex, it requires a whole of government approach to solve this. Military action or activity is just one aspect.
“One mistake that we have been making is that only the military can solve this. It is not. There are political, social, economic aspects that need to be addressed.
“Development should be progressive, there should be road everywhere, there should be employment, schools, hospitals all over.
“Yesterday, I counted five Local Government Areas in Borno State that do not have good access road to those places.
“In Noth-West, North-Central, there are so many ungovernable spaces, which the insurgents are penetrating. The places don’t have schools, hospitals and so on and education is very fundamental.
“Unless these things are done, this insecurity will continue.
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