The Chief of Defense Staff ,CDS, General Christopher Musa on Thursday kicked against suggestions for federal government to hire contractors to fight and end insurgency, banditry and kidnapping in the country.
He said that it has been proved in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries where the services of military contractors were used that they end up with worse and complex security issues.
General Musa stated this on Arise television Morning Show. He spoke in response to question on the need to engage contractor to fight terrorists and bandits that led most Nigerian national dailies on Thursday.
He said that hiring Contractor at this point will aggravate our insecurity situation. “Bring anybody here at a cost ,they have their own interests, they are out to make money and not to end insurgency.” We have similar forces in Mali, and recently seven of them were killed by the terrorists.
He explained that Nigerian military is dealing with individuals that have sworn to kill for whatever reason, stressing that the worst enemy one can fight is somebody who has nothing to loss. One who dies and nobody cares.
General Musa said that reasons why the fight against terrorists and bandits have dragged for years is because of its nature, saboteurs, unconcern attitude of citizens and the vast areas the terrorists are operating . He said that Niger state alone occupied 10 percent of Nigeria land mark while North East is over 200 square kilometres.
The CDS said that what the military is doing is to leverage on technology. “If we have enough satellites to give us digital information. We don’t have enough but we are making do with what we have.”
Besides, he said that asymmatric warfare takes long time, and we should not expect it to end today. General Musa said that to end the insurgency it must be deliberate and it will entails all societies to come gather and defeat the enemy.
He explained that terrorists and bandits are surviving because some Nigerians give them information. Citing as example, the Armoured Personnel Carrier , APC , that got bogged down in North West , the CDS said that it was the locals that called the terrorists and informed them that the APC had broken down and they came emass. “So you find Nigerians sabotaging our efforts.”
The CDS said that some unscrupulous Nigerians are working against the war efforts. In the North East people drives their vehicles into filling station filled their tanks and takes the vehicle to terrorists empty the tank for money. Same process, these unscrupulous elements among us used in smuggling foodstock to the enemies.
“We have a lot of saboteurs within and outside , he confessed. “We need to come to gather and say enough is enough, Nigeria must take ownership of this war and the country,” he said.
General Musa made it clear that military action alone cannot provide last solution.
He said that from experience as theater Commander in the North East , youths engagement in the protection of their respective communities played an essential role in checking the activities of bandits and terrorists.