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Nigerian Army Not Capable Of Defeating Boko Haram - Out-going UK High Commissioner
Posted by George on Wed 08th Jul, 2015 - tori.ngThe outgoing British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Andrew Pocock has stated that a military approach alone to fighting the Boko haram sect will not be enough, and so developmental approaches must also be employed.
Andrew Pocock
Outgoing British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Andrew Pocock on Monday, 6th of July, 2015 spoke with members of Kaduna chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists Correspondent Chapel in Kaduna on the poor security state in Nigeria.
He attributed the state of security affairs to the approach by the Nigerian government which has been limited to the use of the army, the police or the security agencies only. This according to him is insufficient to fight the high morale terrorist group called Boko Haram.
Pocock said:
“We don’t look at the problem in the Northeast as purely a security problem. It is not something that can be resolved with the use of the army of the police or the security agencies only. It is not going to be solvable.
“There has to be three different things; the first is a properly articulated security efforts.
"The second is that, there has to be a different kind of politics in the Northeast, where state and Federal Government work together instead of against each other and where there is a much more common and agreed agenda about what needs to be done to correct many years of mis-governance and of poor policy in the North-east.
“The third dimension has to be a developmental and economic uplift agenda. Too many, particularly young people are not only without employment in the North-east but because of the insurgency are without any economic prospect whatsoever.
"No one can live without hope and indeed if the economic and the developmental aspect of these are not addressed, the opportunities for radicalisation are much greater.
"So, those three things have to work in tandem, the security instrument, politics and development/economic approach.”
He spoke about the high expectations of Nigerians from President Muhammadu Buhari on the north-east security problems which they can't wait to overcome. According to him, Nigeria made a tremendous effort in its fight against Boko Haram in the year 2013 but a lack of a concrete follow up strategy enabled the sect to hit back massively the following year, 2014 leading to a strong hold over North-eastern states like Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. He went ahead to also predict a round of economic success for Nigeria under the new administration which will likely suppress the records of the former.
“20,000 people killed in a conflict is a very serious matter,” he reiterated.
“The British government has long been involved in training Nigerian soldiers to fight the very difficult anti-insurgency combat that they are faced with in the North-east,” he said.
He ended with a promising support from the British Government to end the menace of insurgency in Nigeria which will be facilitated by an access to the new top officials working with President Muhammadu Buhari.
“There has to be three different things; the first is a properly articulated security efforts.
"The second is that, there has to be a different kind of politics in the Northeast, where state and Federal Government work together instead of against each other and where there is a much more common and agreed agenda about what needs to be done to correct many years of mis-governance and of poor policy in the North-east.
“The third dimension has to be a developmental and economic uplift agenda. Too many, particularly young people are not only without employment in the North-east but because of the insurgency are without any economic prospect whatsoever.
"No one can live without hope and indeed if the economic and the developmental aspect of these are not addressed, the opportunities for radicalisation are much greater.
"So, those three things have to work in tandem, the security instrument, politics and development/economic approach.”
He spoke about the high expectations of Nigerians from President Muhammadu Buhari on the north-east security problems which they can't wait to overcome. According to him, Nigeria made a tremendous effort in its fight against Boko Haram in the year 2013 but a lack of a concrete follow up strategy enabled the sect to hit back massively the following year, 2014 leading to a strong hold over North-eastern states like Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. He went ahead to also predict a round of economic success for Nigeria under the new administration which will likely suppress the records of the former.
“20,000 people killed in a conflict is a very serious matter,” he reiterated.
“The British government has long been involved in training Nigerian soldiers to fight the very difficult anti-insurgency combat that they are faced with in the North-east,” he said.
He ended with a promising support from the British Government to end the menace of insurgency in Nigeria which will be facilitated by an access to the new top officials working with President Muhammadu Buhari.
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