On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, reports in Nigerian media claimed that the Nigerian Armed Forces have yet to fully deploy the A-29 Super Tucano fighter jets purchased from the United States against bandits in the North-West due to an agreement that requires Nigeria to only use the jets against terrorists and insurgents. Surprisingly, the following day, Thursday, October 21, 2021, so-called bandits detonated explosives on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line and attacked a passenger train, forcing the suspension of Abuja-Kaduna train services for nearly 48 hours. The Economist magazine of London published a damning report titled ‘Insurgency, secessionism, and banditry threaten Nigeria’ on Saturday, October 23, 2021.

According to The Economist’s report, which is essentially editorial opinion, the Nigerian army is overstressed and only “mighty on paper,” officers stole weapons and “sold to insurgents,” police are “understaffed, demoralized, and poorly trained,” and they “supplement their low pay by robbing the public.” It concluded by recommending that Nigeria ‘bolster its police,’ with a call to recruit more cops, pointing out that Niger State ‘has only 4,000 officers to protect 24 million people.’ Niger State has a population of about 4 million people. This blunder, however, does not negate the fact that Nigeria is overpoliced. The Economists’ woolgathering nature could have been to blame for such avoidable error.

It is not only the error in presenting the population of Niger State, but the magazine has lost almost all objectivity in analyzing the country’s security challenges. The so-called report was reduced to arguing that the purchase of A-29 Super Tucano jets is wasteful spending because ‘local cops would be better at stopping kidnappings and solving crimes than the current federal force, which is frequently sent charging from one trouble spot to the next.’ Money could be saved by reducing wasteful military spending on jet fighters, which are useless for guarding schools. Britain and the United States, which assist in the training of Nigeria’s army, could also train detectives. Better policing may allow the army to withdraw from areas where it is stoking secessionist fires.’ According to The Economist, what is needed to put an end to banditry and protect schools in the North-West is more police officers, not ‘wasteful’ spending on jets.

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Mallam Mahmud Jega reminded The Economist magazine on Monday, October 25, 2021, in his weekly article titled Mighty Armies on Paper, how the’mighty’ US army spent over $6 trillion in 20 years fighting the Talibans in Afghanistan only to lose the battle. Similarly, until the signing of the Good Friday Accord in 1992, the’mighty’ British army was unable to defeat the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and bring an end to ‘The Troubles.’ Mallam Jega emphasized that all “conventional armies in this world have difficulty fighting asymmetric warfare, primarily because they are not trained for it.” This is perhaps one of the most important aspects of Nigeria’s insecurity problem: resolving it will necessitate unconventional strategies.

It is shocking that much attention has been paid to the question of whether the Nigerian Armed Forces should deploy newly acquired A-29 Tucano jets to combat insecurity in the country against bandits, insurgents, or terrorists. Isn’t it true that the jets have already been deployed in the North-West, in Zamfara, Kaduna, and Katsina states, and that they have had some notable successes against the bandits? Is it true that Nigeria has an agreement with the US government that forbids it from using jets against bandits? Will the US government actually take steps to prevent the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Nigerian government from using newly acquired A-29 Super Tucano jets to combat bandits in the North-West?

The entire speculation about the ostensibly agreed-upon agreement between Nigeria and the US government to use A-29 Super Tucano jets is insulting to both the Nigerian and US governments. The speculation about the so-called agreement between the Nigerian and US governments on how the A-29 Super Tucano jets will be used, the attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train, and the report in The Economist are all fascinating coincidences. It’s as if someone, somewhere wants to discourage Nigerian Armed Forces from fighting bandits in the North-West, thereby halting any progress made. Recent public debate in the country appears to be aimed at demoralizing Nigerian Armed Forces in their fight against bandits in the North-West, and the attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train is being used to highlight the sophistication of the bandits. If there is one thing that proves bandits are terrorists, it is the attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train. After all, aren’t terrorists people who endanger the lives of ordinary citizens? What could be more dangerous than the activities of these bandits in the North West?

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Interestingly, apologists and self-appointed counsellors to the Bandits, such as Sheikh Ahmed Gumi, are growing more confident and irresponsibly mobilizing opposition to declaring the Bandits terrorists. All studies on insecurity and banditry in Nigeria have only confirmed that the bandits operating in the North-West and North-Central have all of the characteristics of terrorist organizations. For example, a study titled, I am a Bandit – A Decade of Research in Zamfara State Bandit’s Den, presented at the 15th Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto Seminar Series, on Thursday, September 9, 2021, reported that bandits are armed groups with ‘contacts across the Sahel, particularly Libya and Mali,’ ‘huge capital,’ ‘in possession of more than 500 AK 47 guns,’ and ‘ According to the report, “over 60,000 weapons are in circulation” in the North-West alone.

Any discussion of the challenges of insecurity and banditry in Nigeria that ignores this reality is simply uninformed and thus unhelpful. The Economist’s arrogance, which led them to believe they could condemn the Nigerian Armed Forces and Government based on some uninformed sentiments, reflects the old ideological mindset that was used in the 1980s to impose Structural Adjustment Programmes, resulting in the destruction of education and health sectors in most African countries, including Nigeria. In fact, the current problems of insecurity and banditry in Nigeria are a direct result of the country’s educational system collapsing, which is why it is estimated that over 12 million Nigerian children are out of school.

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Many recent studies have highlighted the objective reality of Nigeria’s security challenges, on the basis of which good recommendations for addressing the challenges have been made. One such study was the presentation of an international consulting firm, Nextier SPD (Security, Peace, and Development), titled Stemming the Tears – A Pragmatic Approach to Solving Nigeria’s Security Challenge, to the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit in October 2021. According to the study, “in the twelve months leading up to September 2021, Nigeria recorded 890 violent incidents resulting in 3,787 deaths, 340 injured persons, and 2,542 kidnapped persons…” Banditry is currently the leading conflict type in Nigeria in terms of number of incidents (606 or 68.1 percent), number of deaths (2,470 or 65.2 percent), number of injured (211 or 62.1 percent), and number of persons kidnapped (2,487 or 97.8 percent).’

The Nextier study demonstrated that banditry is the most serious security challenge confronting Nigeria today. Every day, at least six innocent people are killed by bandits. Nextier acknowledges that the recent escalation of the fight against bandits prompted authorities in Katsina, Sokoto, and Zamfara states to impose a communications blackout in several communities in the states in order to prevent communication between bandits and their informants. There has also been a reduction in fuel and food supplies to armed gangs’ hideouts in forests and other areas. Furthermore, cattle movement has been restricted, as have the opening hours of local markets in the worst-affected areas by banditry. Those smuggled fuel to bandits have been apprehended. Since early September, hundreds of ground and air troops have been carrying out an offensive to halt a surge in mass abductions, community raids, and sexual violence in the North-West. The governments of Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, Niger, Katsina, and Nasarawa states have agreed to recruit 3,000 special vigilantes in the troubled regions to boost military efforts aimed at halting violence in both the North-West and North-Central.

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The point is that, more than ever before, Nigerian Armed Forces have been achieving successes in fighting bandits in the North-West since July 2021, when the recently acquired A-29 Super Tucano jets arrived and were deployed. As a result of their successes, Nextier observed that bandits are migrating and launching attacks in formerly peaceful areas, which may explain in part the recent attack on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line and train services on Thursday, October 21. A major challenge is the need to foster trust in order to strengthen collaboration between the Nigerian Armed Forces and citizens in order to put an end to banditry. According to Nextier’s submission, “the military needs to win “hearts and minds” and build trust with the community in order to access the information.” Given the current state of the relationship, this strategy will necessitate significant effort and patience on the part of the military.’

These challenges are easily reduced to commentaries and opinion analysis. Those who want to take advantage of Ni’s security challenges

By Linus Ojoko

“ (Military) is not only the force that should be used, what about the non-kinetic approach? What about development? So many places don’t have roads, several places don’t have schools. There is low level of education, high illiteracy. These are what breed insecurity and criminality”- Gen. TY Buratai (rtd) in an interview with ThisDay and Arise TV in Maiduguri, February, 2020

Nigeria, like other countries of the world has been enmeshed in multi-dimensional terrorism for years. The nation has incurred unimaginable losses in precious human lives, destructions, waste of critical national resources on curbing insecurities and the overall instability it has birthed in the country. The pains, sorrows and agonies terrorists inflict on the people is another pain in the neck.

And in Nigeria’s efforts to contain the plague of terrorism, the country has adopted multiple measures, at different times, including anointing crack and seasoned Military Generals to lead the counter-insurgency operations. But the army officer who has demonstrated the clearest vision and discerns the matrix of insurgency deeply, is Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai (rtd). He is now Nigeria’s Ambassador to Benin Republic. He broke new grounds, set global records in battling terrorism and recorded countless success stories while he led counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria.

Even in his diplomatic assignment, His Excellency, Ambassador TY Buratai has continued to trumpet his convictions and perceptions on how best to tackle terrorism, which is now domiciled its tentacles in the West African sub-region, Africa and a nagging nightmare to the entire globe. While still in active Military service, Ambassador Buratai sermonized on the inadequacy of Nigeria’s over reliance on kinetic approaches to resolve the terrorism conflagrations.Some people maliciously classified him a prophet of doom. But reality and truth and unchangeable human phenomenon.

However, Buratai never relented in preaching the adoption of wholistic and collective efforts to tackle Boko Haram terrorism, armed banditry and its numerous variations or mutations. He canvassed for the use of the non-kinetic approaches in blighting terrorism fires in the country. Ultimately, Ambassador Buratai believes that terrorism will not just disappear from Nigeria simply because armed soldiers engage insurgents in brutally crippling combats in the war trenches or fighter jets drop missiles on terrorists camps, exterminating them in numbers.

But Gen. Buratai (rtd) keenly studied and grasped the sociological and psychological character of Boko Haram terrorists; their recruitment styles and baits in luring innocent Nigerian youths into the sect as footsoldiers. The youths easily subscribe to Boko Haram ideology because it assures them of ending an existential ennui.

Mainly, Buratai believes gross underdevelopment, awful deficits in infrastructures, near zero empowerment of Nigeria’s productive population, festers Boko Haram terrorism and also frustrates or impedes the needed Military actions to completely blight operations of the sect, especially in the Northeast region.

Ambassador Buratai has remained appalled at the level of underdevelopment of the Northeast region, the hotbed of Boko Haram terrorists campaigns. Its unbelievable, but some Local Government Areas in the Northeast are inaccessible by road. But they receive monthly allocations from the federation account.

A few days back, His Excellency, Ambassador Buratai again drummed the same message at Yola, Adamawa state, when he spoke as the Guest Lecturer at the of the 24th, 25th and 26th combined convocation lecture of Modibbo Adama University. He bemoaned loudly that the Northeast lacks development and it is incredibly fuelling insurgency and insecurities in the geopolitical region.

Ambassador Buratai pricked the conscience of leaders and the influential, as he declared; “ Any country that does not ensure the development of its people would have security challenges. We should not rely on the military option as the only way to resolve our security challenges. We must address the ideological, economic, social, and political factors. My recent diplomatic foray has further sharpened my views on the urgent need for military, as well as non-military solution to the lingering and needless conflict.”

Gen. Buratai (rtd) has lived with this mindset even while he was in active Military service and actually took profound steps, by using the platform of the Nigerian Army to berth desperately needed succour Thus, while he rendered patriotic service to his country, Gen. Buratai (rtd) manifested in policies and actions that embraced both the kinetic and non-kinetic measures to battle Boko Haram terrorism. He introduced the “stick and carrot” approach; and activated the Nigerian Army’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) component in host communities.

The CSR initiative, which was the first ever in the history of the Nigerian Army, funded from its meagre budget, impactfully bridged development gulfs in all Army host communities’ or anywhere soldiers conducted special Internal Security (IS) operations. It to the credit of the Nigerian Army and the excitement of Nigerians who are beneficiaries of the Army’s CSR projects in roads construction, bridges, water supply, health, agriculture, education , electricity and many others. The Army through the CSR platform, even reached communities which have never experienced the presence of government in the history of their existence.

By his recent outbursts and emphasis on the poor development base of the Northeast, Ambassador Buratai for the umpteenth time, has persuaded a synergic approach to this challenge. He has persuaded the commitment of government at all tiers, as well as the needed actions from political leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders, individuals and all stakeholders to assist the Military in ending the terrorism conflict in the Northeast through development initiatives.

The singular dependence on the Military and weapons alone would only momentarily blight the fires of terrorism. The people must be lifted from their gross underdevelopment, poverty and penury to embolden them to abandon the allures of terrorism. Very often, Boko Haram recruiters brainwash the people into believing, the sect can offer a better alternative to existence, as they encounsed such preachments government’s visible neglect. Today again, leaders are tasked to change this narrative by consciously re-doubling fresh energies and resources to the issues of development in the region.

A consistent frank talker, Gen. Buratai (rtd) once told a select team of media executives at the Nigerian Army Day Celebration (NADCEL) 2020, observed in Faskari, Katsina State that; “ But, overall, we must see criminality as a collective responsibility. It is a collective burden and it requires collective solutions. We are doing our own kinetic aspect and the civil authorities at the local level, at the state level need to do their own and of course, we must support the kinetic actions of the security agencies…,”

Truth is constant, but not easy to voice out by most people. But Ambassador Buratai has wittingly developed himself into a great human resource to Nigeria on counter-terrorism and knows where the problem of terrorism is nourished. So, he does not dread telling the truth he knows.

If only leaders can listen to him and apply his ideas, Nigeria would be finally extricated from the fangs of terrorism. As a nation, Nigerians must wake up to take his sermons very seriously. It is not too late to rejig the narrativd. He spoke and has always spewed the gospel truth, regardless of who hates or is angered by it. But only truth can set anyone free.

President Muhammadu Buhari and international donors deserve special commendation for their numerous efforts in the rebuilding and reconstruction of the Northeast in the post-insurgency era. But these efforts must be complemented by the natives, whether low or mighty. The burden is heavier on their necks than anyone else.

Truthfully, the Northeast has no reason to be confoundingly underdeveloped as known today. The Northeast is a region which is also home to many wealthy Nigerians. It is the ancestral place of some of Nigeria’s topmost millionaires and billionaires. They must partner and synergise to tackle the issue of underdevelopment to end the bait of easy recruitment of footsoldiers or support for Boko Haram terrorists.

Ojoko PhD wrote this article from
Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola.