Military lacks resources, technology to fight insurgency – El Rufai

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has warned that Nigeria needs to do more than it is presently doing if it hopes to curtail terrorism and banditry.

El-Rufai made the revelation at the Federal Government Town Hall Meeting on National Security which took place at the Kaduna State University, in the state capital on Thursday.

The governor noted that Nigeria is in a war and the only way to win is for the nation’s security forces to take the fight to the terrorists.

He revealed that the criminals no longer have rights to life and must be wiped out.
“We are in a war with these terrorists who are challenging the sovereignty and monopoly of the instruments of coercion of the Nigerian state and its territory,” he said.

He argued that taking the battle to the terrorists “will not only cripple the outlaws, but will also reassure ordinary citizens, bolster the morale of the security agencies and provide an alternative focus for the energies that are being dissipated on fractious endeavours.

“These bandits have lost their rights to life under our Constitution and must be wiped out in their entirety. There is no other way to approach the current insurgency situation today as far as governmental action is concerned,” he added.

El Rufai lamented that the national level security response to challenges of terrorists has been uncoordinated and ineffective.

He said, “none of the military services nor other security agencies has been suitably expanded in numbers and equipment for over a decade since the insurgency in the North-East pushed things to a new low.

“This country does not have enough soldiers, uniformed police and secret police to project state power across its vast swathes, particularly the forests.
“The limited number of boots on the ground is not well equipped and are significantly lacking in the technology that can make their limited numbers matter a lot less.”