Terrorism persists in many parts of Northern Nigeria because the Nigerian military does not have enough personnel, Defence Minister Muhammad Badaru said on Tuesday.
Mr Badaru said despite the challenges, the military has continued to decimate the terror groups and recently killed seven top leaders of the groups.
“The military are not enough, what the bandits do is take advantage of soft targets,” he said. “They find out where there is absence of the military, they attack and run to the bushes.”
Mr Badaru’s narration of insufficient soldiers is not new as previous military and defence chiefs had expressed similar views.
Although the military is originally expected to protect the country from external threats, the security concerns across Nigeria have led to soldiers being deployed to almost all of Nigeria’s 36 states and Abuja.
The Bola Tinubu administration has promised massive recruitment into the security agencies including the military.
On Tuesday, Mr Badaru spoke in an interview with journalists after addressing the members of Senior Course 46 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji Military Cantonment, Kaduna, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The minister, who was on a working visit, delivered an address to the course participants at a seminar organised by the college on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism.
The theme for the seminar was “Imperatives of Operational and Tactical Level Leadership for Enhanced Counter Terrorism, Counter Insurgency Operations in Nigeria.”
Mr Badaru said, “The government’s commitment to defeating insurgency is a comprehensive security strategy and community engagement remains unwavering.
“We are pursuing a whole-of-the-government approach in handling the counter-insurgency and anti-banditry operations.”
