Chidoka: Adding More Soldiers or Police Won’t End Terrorism

Osita Chidoka, a former minister of aviation, has stated that Nigeria does not need more police or soldiers to fight terrorism.

According to reports, Chidoka stated this in an interview with Arise Television, highlighting the necessity of Special and Forest Forces in Nigeria.

Chidoka emphasized that it is unfortunate that the nation lacks Special Forces and that President Bola Tinubu’s emergency declaration to enlist more police and troops is a snap decision.

“We should have a special force by now because we have been at this since 2008,” he stated. Instead of more police and military, we need a forest force.

Boots on the ground is what President Bola Tinubu said, correct? Declaring an emergency: 50,000 military, 20,000 additional police officers, etc. NYSC camps will be used and new soldiers will be recruited.

However, I believe that was a snap decision. I don’t believe that more police or soldiers are necessary to combat terrorism in Nigeria. It is unfortunate that we haven’t gone forward and created special forces to combat terrorism.

Colombia developed the Jungle Force, a specialist unit trained and assisted by the U.S. Navy, in response to this issue. They possessed a striking force, helicopters, and their own intelligence system.

“If you look at the police budget for 2025, which is over 1.2 trillion naira, of which about 1.1 trillion is for salaries, we don’t need more soldiers or police.” There are just roughly 97 billion for overhead.