Military: Presidency, Service Chiefs Committed to End Insurgency

•Says ISWAP sets up task force to halt surrender of terrorists

•Discloses 17,000 insurgents gave in to troops in North-east

•Magashi hints Nigeria facing food insecurity as new threat

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

Military authorities, yesterday, said the presidency and the service chiefs remained committed to ending the 12-year insurgency in the North-east.

Theatre Commander of the Joint Task Force, Operations Hadin Kai, Maj. Gen. Christopher Musa, who made the disclosure in Maiduguri during a courtesy call on the management of North East Development Commission (NEDC), hinted that so far, 17,000 insurgents had surrendered to troops in the the region.

Reiterating that the presidency, defence minister and the service chiefs were working hard to ensure that the war was brought to an end, he however said the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), had even set up a task force to stop the trend of surrendering by their men to the troops.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Defence, retired Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi, said the prevalence of the various security threats in Nigeria had adversely affected food security, thereby posing new dimension of threats to the country.

But, while addressing the commitment of the military and the presidency to the war against insurgency, Musa said, “From the presidency, minister of defence, chief of defence staff, service chiefs, everyone is putting hands on deck to see that the menace is ended so that we can have peace in the North-east. We know that if we have peace in North-east, it will transcend to other regions,” he said.

Musa said those that surrendered included combatants, non-combatants and others conscripted against their will and family members.

The war commander stated that the development was a positive one that remained a source of concern for members of Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), who have started panicking as their hope to inherit Boko Haram fighters had faultered.

This, he said, was responsible for why ISWAP set up a task force to stop the terrorists fromsurrendering, adding that the way the surrendered fighters were managed would motivate more insurgents, who were still in the bush to come out.

He lauded the intervention of the NEDC in areas of humanitarian and infrastructure support in the region and urged it to extend its intervention to the military, particularly, in the rehabilitation of structures and roads to facilitate movement.

Responding, Managing Director of NEDC, Mr Mohammed Alkali, lauded the effective role of the military in restoring peace in the region, adding that the improvement in security in North-east had enabled the commission to embark on various projects and other non-kinetic support in recovered areas.

Alkali, who assured the military of continuous collaboration and support, urged them to sustain the tempo at this critical time of closure of camps in Maiduguri and resettlement of displaced persons to their ancestral homes.

However, Magashi, at the opening of a retreat for Defence Advisers/Attaches Conference, organised by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) on Monday in Abuja, with the theme, “Advancing Counterterrorism Efforts through Enhanced Inter-Agency Cooperation: A Whole of Government Approach”, said the attacks by Boko Haram Terrorists and ISWAP in the North East as well as banditry and herder/militia in the North West and Central had continued to pose serious security threats to Nigeria.

According to him, the littoral states in the South-south region were plagued with illegal oil bunkering, piracy and militancy while the South-East was challenged with secessionist activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

He added that the South-West region was equally faced with secessionist inclination driven by ethnic agitators as well as occasional tension between herders and farmers.

“The threats currently facing Nigeria and understanding their socio-geographic context is pivotal for adapting appropriate and lasting counter-measures. Regrettably, the prevalence of these threats has continued to endanger not only national security and economic growth, but also food security.

“In particular, food security has been adversely affected with the attendant rise in the prices of food stuff across the country, which portends a new dimension of threat.

“This makes it imperative for the various security agencies in the country to continue to collaborate to tackle these menaces in order to create an enabling atmosphere for economic activities to thrive and to attract Foreign Direct Investment.

“It also means that the security agencies must explore all avenues within their respective systems to come up with innovative ways of identifying and confronting the challenges facing us as a nation,” he said.

Magashi explained that the Defence Advisers/Attachés system had crucial roles to play by forging understanding and cooperation with the security and defence architectures in their respective countries of accreditation.

He said the conference would provide participants the opportunity to appraise the shared vision of stemming the tide of insecurity through the integrated efforts of all government entities, the objectives of the government approach.

According to him, the recent achievement of the military and security agencies, who took the fight from all angles to the door steps of the adversaries leading to the surrender of over 14,000 terrorists, was reassuring.

On his part, the National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno, said the defence Attachés/Advisers were considered as critical stakeholders in surmounting the myriad of security challenges facing Nigeria.

Monguno, represented by his Principal General Staff Officer, Maj.-Gen. Abubakar Ndalolo, said Nigeria had been adopting both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches in dealing with security challenges, adding that both approaches had been yielding results.

He said that the government also laid emphasis on the integrated approach, which recognised the roles of ministries, departments and agencies as well as the entire society in “tackling our security challenges”.

According to him, this involved participation of critical stakeholders from different sectors of the society, such as religious actors, youths, teachers, women, civil society, media, law enforcement as well as the security and intelligence agencies.

Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI), Maj.-Gen. Samuel Adebayo, said the conference was an annual event, which afforded DIA a medium to assiduously review the activities of all its defence sections.

Adebayo said the conference was also an avenue to identify new lessons and challenges, discuss modalities for overcoming such challenges as well as restrategise for the future.

“That is why the theme for this year’s Conference, ‘Advancing Counterterrorism Efforts through Enhanced Inter Agency Cooperation: A Whole of Government Approach’, was carefully chosen.

“This theme will undoubtedly guide our deliberations and contributions to the current efforts of the federal government towards attaining an approach in our counter-terrorism strategy and create an atmosphere for sustainable national security and development.

“It is therefore in this regard that I urge the participants in this conference to address the issues squarely and deliberate with open minds to ensure that the objectives of the conference are achieved,” he said.

The Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, urged attachés to use their position to support the fight against drug abuse and trafficking in Nigeria.

Marwa said there was a strong connection between drug and insecurity, saying, taking drugs out of the hands of peddlers would reduce the effects on security.

He said the recent seizure made by the agency revealed that large quantities of drugs used by criminals were finding their ways into the country.