The Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume, has said the renewed insurgency being experienced in the North-East geopolitical zone will continue unless the critical challenges confronting the nation’s armed forces are urgently addressed.
Ndume, a former leader of the Senate, stated this in an interview with Punch on Wednesday. He said the poor funding of the Nigerian Armed Forces, and the inadequate troops that were prosecuting the insurgency war, were not good enough for the country.
Ndume said, “The challenge that the military have now is lack of resources and inadequate personnel. As long as the resources are not deployed in terms of what they would need, we would continue to have this (insurgency) challenge.“In an operation like this, we have only 30, 000 soldiers on ground which is grossly inadequate. They (Federal Government) have to do something urgently about that.”
He explained that the residents of the three local government areas recently sacked by the Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State had yet to return to their ancestral homes. He added that the personnel of the Nigerian Armed Forces took over the council areas to ensure that the insurgents did not return to perpetrate havoc after the resettlement of the civilians.
Ndume added, “The civilians ran away because of the fears of what would happen to them. They refused to come back. The governor is now appealing to the military to secure the areas so that the residents could return.”He urged the Federal Government to do the needful to ensure the early return of the residents.
Ndume added, “The residents of the affected local government areas in Borno State, taken over by the military following the Boko Haram attacks, have not started returning but the government is making efforts to ensure the return of the people.”
The senator, who described the renewed insurgency in the North-East as very unfortunate, expressed confidence in the ability of the Nigerian Armed Forces to restore normalcy to the zone as soon as possible.
He lamented the kidnap of the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in the Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Rev. Lawan Andimi. Ndume urged security operatives in the area to do everything possible to secure his freedom. He also beggedd the military to do everything possible to encourage the civilian residents to return to their villages in the affected local government areas.
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