Dauda R Pam MAIDUGURI
Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno state,has said that as a matter of urgency President Muhammadu Buhari should mobilise additional 100, 000 troops as bokoharam terrorists seem to have overwhelmed the over150,000 strong Nigeraian army.
ZULUM argued that,the over a decade long insurgency has continued to claim many lives and property not only in Borno but Yobe and Adamawa inclusive.
He made the call, while receiving a nine-member House Committee on Defense led by Hon. Babajimi Benson at Government House, Maiduguri.
According to him,the immediate recruitment of soldiers, will boost the manpower of the military, as troops are grossly inadequate to end the war against Boko Haram terrorism in the north east and other related crimes that have since taken over most parts of northern Nigeria.
He described the limited number of troops in the front lines as grossly inadequate, resulting to the mass failure of troops from taking the fight to Boko Haram enclaves of Sambisa Forest and Lake Chad region and that,decisive action is imperative if the fight against Boko haram terrorists must be won.
Hear him,“Kindly inform the Speaker and the Senate President to advise Mr President,to do mass recruitment of 100.000 soldiers into the Nigeria Army.
“They should come and recruit the locals whether they have Western education or not.”
Adding that during the civil war, many were recruited but after some few years, the soldiers that fought the war were demobilized.
“I think this is one of the solutions to the ongoing counter-insurgency and terrorism operations in Northeast,” said Zulum.
He told the House Committee Defense that there is the need to recruit 50,000 young men from Borno insisting that the state; has able bodied young men that can join the Nigeria Armed Forces on an ad hoc basis, as they can be trained and retrained to end this war.
Apart from massive engagement of soldiers,he enthused,the military could re-trace it steps and re-strategise for retired military personnel and policemen into the armed forces system even as he also requested the Federal Government to look into possibility of lifting a ban on the temporal usage of certain types of weapons for the paramilitary in the northeast as such alternatives, if implemented, would go a long way in complementing the roles of military to end the war.
While sharing current experiences with committee, he said: “I was in Niger Republic last week. I saw their police using Anti-Aircraft guns, General Purpose Machine Guns and others. “I think the Federal government should consider lifting ban of some kind of weapons in the northeast for certain period.”
His advice to the committee house members,“We keep on having series of meetings, endless meetings, without taking decisive steps. “I think this crisis will consume all of us; it will even consume our democracy, we must take decisive steps.”
He said no armed forces can fight insurgency to the finish, without manpower, adequate funding and modern technology.
