President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday met with service chiefs on how to overcome weather and logistic challenges hampering the defeat of Boko Haram insurgents.
The government has declared its intentions to crush the sect by December.
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Gabriel Abayomi Olonisakin and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Aliyu Ismaila, spoke with State House correspondents at the end of the closed-door meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The CDS said they had to brief the President on the security situation on ground after a 60-day review.
He said: “It is a normal consultation to intimate him of the issues on ground. We briefed him on the security situation on ground after a 60-day review and we had to brief him on the challenges we have and ensure that the mandate we have is properly delivered.
“Of course, the challenges we are looking at are the issues of probably the weather as it were and some other logistics that we feel we should have so that the mandate can be quickly delivered.”
On the president’s response, he said: “He is very excited, very happy. As for our request, he gave the mandate.”
Asked on any consideration of extension of the deadline beyond December, Olonisakin said: “We have not said that. The mandate is that we should clear Boko Haram from the occupied territories and ensure that we reclaim all the lost grounds. That is exactly what we are doing.”
On whether the December mandate is feasible, he said: “It is a military operation and military operations have time-lines and these time-lines we are working on assiduously.”
He said the United States (U.S.) and United Kingdom (UK) were involved in capacity building for troops as part of their support to the Federal Government.
“When we get there, we will let you know. They have been involved in some capacity building and of course, when we get the tangible ones, we will let you know about it,” Olonisakin said.
The permanent secretary said the service chiefs will be meeting again with the President in the next few days.
He said: “We are here to brief the president on the situation of what armed forces have been doing in the Northeast and the Southsouth. That is exactly what we discussed with Mr. President.
“The directive is that we should continue what we have been doing and in the next few days, there will be another meeting.
“But by and large, the president is excited and confident that the leadership of the Nigerian Armed Forces that he puts in place will do us proud.”
THE Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant-General Tukur Buratai, has assured that the nation’s troops are determined to end Boko Haram insurgency and make terrorism history.
A statement by Army spokesman Col. Sani K. Usman said Buratai spoke when the Netherlands Defence Attaché to Nigeria, Col. Eric Adriaan de Landmeter, and delegations from Total Plc and Arik Air separately visited his office.
He said the Nigerian troops were making a steady progress in the fight against terror, oil theft and other criminalities.
The Chief of Army Staff, who hailed de Landmeter for his visit, assured of his men’s determination to end Boko Haram activities soon.
He added that the operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force was progressing well and that troops from contributing countries were expected to operate within their territories.
He noted that both Nigeria and the Netherlands have been participating in peace operations for a long time.
He lauded Netherland’s demonstration of concern over Nigeria’s security challenges.
De Landmeter thanked Buratai for the audience despite the short notice and hailed the Nigerian Army for its effort in ending insurgency.
The defence attache stated that his country was interested in what was happening in Nigeria, stressing that Netherlands has the capacity to offer expertise to the Federal Government to tackle its security challenges.
In another development, Buratai has promised that the Nigerian Army would continue to ensure that troops deployed to protect oil companies’ installations conduct themselves professionally at all times.
He spoke when the Managing Director of Total, Nigeria Plc, Mr. Nicolas Terraz, visited his office at the Army headquarters.
The COAS added that challenges facing the country, including oil theft, piracy and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta as well as Boko Haram terrorism in the Northeast would soon end.
Terraz noted that oil theft and pipeline vandalism have constituted major challenges for his company’s operations.
Buratai also received the Managing Director of Arik, Mr. Chris Ndulue, promising that the Nigerian Army would partner with the company.
He urged corporate bodies and the citizens to support the Army in the on-going fight against insurgency in the Northeast.
The Nation.
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