Nigeria Needs More Than Military Tactics To Combat Insurgency-Osinbajo

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has said Nigeria requires more than military approach to combat the insurgency in the northeast.
Osinbajo also noted that violent extremism currently prevalent in the Sahel region was threatening the relative peace in Nigeria and Africa.
The VP however noted that the military can win the war but must work with others stakeholders to ensure total victory.
He made this known in Abuja at a conference with the theme, ‘Insurgency and Counter Insurgency in Nigeria: Perspectives on Boko Haram’ organized by Victim Support Fund in collaboration with Nigeria Defense Academy (NDA), yesterday.
The Vice President, who was represented by the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno while lamenting the impact of the insurgency said: “The insurgency has lasted over a decade. It has created one of the most humanitarian crisis. While we continue in building capacities of our armed forces and intelligence services, we recognize that insurgency is a complex trend which cannot be fought solely by kinetic measures.
“This administration is undertaking a pivot that shapes the orientation of our institutions from the traditional conception of rejigging security to that of human security as a core principle of our national security management.
“This means that the wellbeing of the people in all ramifications now shapes our understanding of national security. This approach is designed to give new life to the dictates of our constitution which states that the security and welfare of the Nigerian people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
Osinbajo also said the Nigerian military officials deployed to the northeast have to understand and be sensitive to the needs of those residents there.
He said: “In the theatre, this comprehensive approach calls for the harmonization of combat imperatives with those of humanitarian operation, the conduct of military security and law enforcement institutions must exacerbate sensitivity to the peculiarities of the local environment.
“The strength of our military must be blended with the resilience of local communities in an era which warfare is easily waged by non-state actors that hide within the civilian populations, civil military relations has emerged as a strategic point. In recognition of this, the Nigerian army has established a directorate of civil military relations to build trust with conflict affected communities.
“Our armed forces are fully capable of delivering military victory; however, an insurgency of this scale which violently questions the legitimacy of the nation itself requires victories in other spheres that can only be won by non-military means.
“For instance, we must imagine alternate scenarios of post-conflict rehabilitation, how do we address the issues of transnational …the conflict has thrown up a lot of questions. In interrogating the remote and immediate causes of the insurgency, many factors have been identified ranging from poverty, human and infrastructural deficits in the conflict affected states and the impact of climate change on lives and livelihoods in the Lake Chad region to social injustice and declining competence of the state in delivering developmental goods and preponderance of ungoverned spaces within which hostile non-state actors roam freely and foment trouble.”