Nigerian Army needs 100,000 more soldiers to defeat Boko Haram -Borno gov

Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno, says the Nigerian Army needs 100,000 additional soldiers to win the war against Boko Haram.

He spoke in Maiduguri on Wednesday when some members of the house of representatives visited him.

Babajimi Benson, chairman of the committee on defence, led the delegation.

Benson told the governor that his committee was in Maiduguri to pay a condolence visit as a result of the Boko Hram attack in Auno and also to seek ways in which the lawmakers could be of assistance to the state and its people.

The governor said the war against Boko Haram cannot be won without adequate military personnel and funding.

He recommended the recruitment of at least 50,000 people from Borno to join the army in fighting the insurgents.

“You cannot fight this insurgency to an end without technology and without manpower and without funding,” he said.

“Take my words, they (the military) don’t have the manpower, they don’t have the equipment. Kindly advise the speaker and the senate president to tell Mr. President to approve the massive recruitment of soldiers. We need about 100,000 more to be recruited into the Nigerian army. They should come and employ the locals whether they have western education or not.

“We need to recruit nothing less than 50,000 men from Borno, we have able-bodied men that can join the Nigerian Armed Forces on an ad-hoc basis.”

Boko Haram has continuous  attacked towns in Borno state despite claims that the Nigerian army is winning the war against the insurgents.

On February 10, Boko Haram insurgents killed 30 persons following an attack against passengers in Auno, a town 20 kilometres from Maiduguri, Borno state capital.

Civil society organisations have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in Borno state, following the renewed spate of insecurity.