Insecurity: CDS Musa kicks against hiring of Military contractors
..Says hiring military contractors will aggravate insecurity in Nigeria
.Lists reasons why fight against terrorists, bandits has dragged for years
BY ANDREW OROLUA
The Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, General Christopher Musa, on Thursday, kicked against suggestions that the Federal Government needs to hire military contractors to end insurgency, banditry and kidnapping in the country.
He said that it has been proven that in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries where the services of military contractors were used that they ended up with complex security issues.
General Musa stated this on the Arise television Morning Show. He spoke in response to a question on the need to engage military contractors to fight terrorists and bandits that led most Nigerian national dailies on Thursday.
He said that hiring military contractors at this point will aggravate our insecurity situation.
READ ALSO: Niger Govt promised timely completion of ongoing…
“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 said.
He explained that the 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 lose. One who dies and nobody cares.
General Musa said that reasons why the fight against terrorists and bandits has dragged on for years is because of its nature, saboteurs, attitude of unconcern among the citizens and the vast areas the terrorists are operating. He said that Niger state alone occupied 10 percent of Nigeria landmass while North East is over 200 square kilometres.
The CDS said that what the military is doing is to leverage 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 asymmetric warfare takes long time, adding, “don’t expect it to end today”. General Musa said that the fight against terrorism must be deliberate and entails all in the society to come together in order to defeat the enemies.
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 en masse.
“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 drive their vehicles into filling stations, fill their tanks and take the vehicle to terrorists, empty the tanks for money. Same process; these unscrupulous elements among us smuggled food stuff 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. Nigerians must take ownership of this war and fight for the country,” he said.
General Musa made it clear that military action alone cannot provide a lasting 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.
