Insecurity in Nigeria, an industry — Obasanjo

Obasanjo

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed worry that the fight against Boko Haram in Nigeria has lasted longer than the country’s civil war that took place between 1967 and 1970.He spoke on Sunday during the ‘Toyin Falola Interviews’ conversation, which was live-streamed on social media.

Other panellists included the Catholic Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, and a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Kingsley Moghalu.

Reacting to questions on insurgency in Nigeria, the former president said leadership must understand that Nigeria needs a combination of training, equipment, intelligence, and technology to end insurgency.
Obasanjo said there is nothing wrong with Nigerian military personnel receiving training in countries that have solved the insurgency challenge.

Citing his experience with the Niger Delta militancy, he said he will not rule out the tendency of security personnel colluding with insurgents.

His words: “There are four important items and I hope that those who are in charge — military, executive, and legislature — know what they are doing. First, there is training. There are different types of training. The military is trained for conventional war.

“If the people you are dealing with are fleeting targets or living among your people, you will need different types of training to deal with them.

“Among the countries that have done that fairly successfully is Colombia. Should we invite them to train our people? There is no shame in that. It is a specialised type of training.

“There is the equipment. The equipment to fight that type of warfare. It differs from equipment for conventional warfare. The other one is intelligence. You need absolute intelligence. Can others trust us with the intelligence that they have?