Worsening insecurity fuelled by terrorism, banditry and kidnapping, continues to expose the incapacity of Nigeria’s military. National Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno was thought to have given clues as to the cause of the military’s ineffectiveness when he was recently reported saying that “huge sums of money” approved for the purchase of weapons were “missing” and the weapons “were not bought.” He later claimed he had been “quoted out of context.”
The import of the remarks he disclaimed is that the military is ill-equipped to tackle the escalating insecurity. There is supporting evidence, based on the recent observations of an “ex-military chief” quoted as saying the troops “lack sufficient and right equipment, arms and ammunition.” He was “part of Operation Lafiya Dole,” the Nigerian military’s counter-insurgency operation, according to a report.
For instance, the ex-military officer said: “There is no army in the world that fights using soft-skin vehicles. Instead of using these Hilux vehicles, we should deploy Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles that will resist fire… If you enter mines with Hilux, the mines will tear everything into pieces, including soldiers.”
Claims that the armed forces are poorly equipped to fight insecurity are not new. It is high time President Muhammadu Buhari, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, addressed the issue decisively.
Notably, Lance Corporal Martins Idakpini of the 8 Division, Sokoto, of the Nigerian Army, dared to speak truth to power in a 12-minute video that went viral in June 2020. He had criticised the military leadership for failing to provide adequate weapons to fight terrorism.
Also, in two other videos, soldiers involved in the war against terrorism had claimed that the army was ill-equipped to defeat the terrorists. In one video, a former theatre commander, Maj. Gen. Olusegun Adeniyi, was seen and heard telling troops that “it appears the people we are fighting have more firepower than us…” He was court-martialled for embarrassing and ridiculing the armed forces.
The authorities cannot continue to ignore the exposure of the incapacity of the armed forces to fight insecurity. Blaming their failure on external factors, without addressing conditions within the armed forces that militate against the success of the anti-terrorism effort, for instance, amounts to denying reality. The armed forces need to be strengthened to make them capable of winning the war against terrorism.
In particular, the war on terror has gone on for too long. It is more than a decade since the military launched its counter-insurgency operation, and Boko Haram continues to terrorise the country. Tragically, it looks like a war without end.
It is disturbing that there are allegations that the war on terror has become an inspiration for corruption in the military and political leadership and those benefiting materially from it do not want the war to end. This may explain the observation that the fighters are poorly equipped.
There is a need for a comprehensive audit of the Ordnance Corps in charge of weaponry and military equipment. This should help clarify the issues raised by the ex-military officer. “For arms,” he said, “we need to take stock of the budget and the supply. The question is: How many MRAP, gun trucks, and tanks did they buy?” He added that the fighters needed “helicopter gunships with night fighting capability” in the war on terror.
It is unclear who determines what the fighters need to win the war against insecurity, but clearly they do not have what they need. This calls for a review of the requirements.
From all indications, the new service chiefs cannot successfully fight insecurity with the ill-equipped armed forces they inherited from the previous leadership. The authorities must urgently remedy the situation. An ill-equipped military is a non-starter.
