Nigeria Set to Win War Against Insecurity With Special Forces.

Nigeria’s insurgency problems are coming to an end if the words of the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, come to fruition. According to the minister, the war against insurgency will be won with a communication strategy and newly trained special forces.

The minister said this in an interview with newsmen after addressing the members of Senior Course 46 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji Military Cantonment, on Tuesday, 5th March 2023, in Kaduna State.

The theme for the seminar was “Imperatives of Operational and Tactical Level Leadership for Enhanced Counter Terrorism, Counter Insurgency Operations in Nigeria”.

Badaru said, “The government’s commitment to defeating the 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.”

Speaking further after a tour of some of the military facilities and formations in the cantonment, Badaru said some of the facilities were meant to train special forces to fight insurgency.

The minister said a total of 2,400 of the special forces would be trained with a first phase consisting of 800 military personnel.

Following a two-month enhanced training, these special forces would be deployed with the responsibility of end-game tackling of the insurgents and terrorists till they are completely annihilated.

“There is enough fighting equipment and platforms, which after the training, they will go into the forests and fish out the terrorists,” he said.

The Nigerian State has battled insurgency since 2009 in mostly the North East region utilizing diverse means and efforts that have cost the nation billions of dollars. This insurgency which has now spread to other parts of the country has affected food security leaving millions of Nigerians facing displacement and acute hunger.

Ayo Adedoyin, CEO of UK-based NGO, PSJUK which mobilises Nigerian diasporans in the UK welcomed the minister’s statement as ‘’a very positive beam of light….as we approach the end of a long black tunnel of insecurity.’’

Last year, PSJUK released a report on Nigeria’s Food Insecurity titled ‘Hunger in the midst of Plenty’