President Buhari made the pledge at the eighth edition of the National Security Seminar 2018 organized by the Alumni Association of the NDC in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the NDC yesterday March 6th.
President Buhari said the persistent attacks of the terrorists on soft targets, such as the kidnap of the girls and the incident at Rann were to create the impression that the terrorists were still very much around. He insisted that compared to when he came into office in 2015, the insurgents had been effectively degraded. Represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, President Buhari said
“Boko Haram, as we all know, rejects authority and strives to take over territory, to establish a caliphate in line with ISIS objectives. Between 2012 and 2015, they seemed to be well on their way to achieve their objectives by annexing some territory of Nigeria. As of March 2015, Boko Haram controlled about 20,000square kilometers of Nigeria, that is about the size of Belgium, from the eastern border of Cameroun to parts of Lake Chad. In Borno State, 20 out of 27 local government areas were under Boko Haram control, including Mubi in Adamawa and some villages. In addition to this, their footprints were registered in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano with the bombings of the UN building and Police HQ in Abuja .That was the state of affairs as of early 2015. Today, BH does not occupy any local government area in Nigeria. And they no longer have the capacity to hold a territory. and challenge the sovereignty of the state. Gone are the days they operated outside the precincts of the northeast, leaving behind carnage and bloodshed. They are now operating as desperate criminal gang mostly in relics or groups taking over some communities, using children as suicide bombers, kidnapping innocent girls and children.”he said
Also speaking at the event, Minister of Defense Mansir Dan Ali said the efforts of the military to rescue the Dapchi girls and the Chibok girls would take the center stage. He said a satellite communications system and other technological method have been deployed to rescue the girls. The minister was represented by Dr. Hassan Abdullahi a director in the ministry.
Dan-Ali said Boko Haram was taking advantage of technology, especially the social media platforms to create panic, terror and confusion in the society. He urged the Armed Forces to move ahead of them by doing away with analogue technology and embrace digital technology.
He also lamented that Nigeria’s reliance on foreign defense products was unhelpful in the fight against terror and other criminal activities, regretting that the cyber space is being dominated by criminals.
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