KEY POINTS
- Senator Ali Ndume said Nigeria can defeat insecurity within six months if the federal government trains, equips and motivates its soldiers with serious political will.
- Ndume raised alarm over the continued killing of senior military officers, including a brigadier general killed April 9 and a colonel killed this week, calling the trend alarming.
- The senator called for expanded drone deployment and surveillance technology, citing Burkina Faso as a model, and praised Borno Governor Babagana Zulum for complementing military efforts.
Senator Ali Ndume says Nigeria has what it takes to break the back of the insecurity crisis gripping the north within six months, but only if the federal government stops talking and starts acting.
Ndume, who represents Borno South in the Senate, made the claim Monday on Channels Television’s Politics Today program, speaking against the backdrop of fresh military casualties in the same state he represents.
“If the President and the Federal Government of Nigeria are serious about this, we can end this thing in six months,” he said. “All we need is to train our soldiers, equip them, arm them very well, and then motivate them.”
That is not a new argument from Ndume. But Monday’s appearance carried a sharper edge. Within days of his remarks, a colonel and six soldiers had been killed by Boko Haram in Monguno, following the April 9 killing of Brigadier General Oseni Braimah in a midnight attack on the 29 Task Force Brigade Headquarters in Benisheikh, also in Borno State. Two senior officers gone in less than a week.
Equipment gaps and falling morale
Ndume said the deaths were not just tragedies. They were symptoms. The army, he argued, is under-equipped and its morale is deteriorating, two conditions that compound each other on the battlefield.
He stopped short of assigning blame to specific officials but was pointed in his criticism of strategy implementation, saying authorities needed to “walk the talk” and match stated priorities with real resources.
“We have to be very serious about this matter,” he said.
On the question of foreign assistance, Ndume was selective. He does not want external boots on the ground. What he wants is intelligence sharing, specialized expertise and, above all, technology.
Drones, cameras and what Burkina Faso is doing
The senator pointed to Burkina Faso’s use of drone technology as the kind of model Nigeria should be studying rather than dismissing.
“Look at what Burkina Faso is doing; it is technology,” he said, noting that Nigerian youths with the skills to design and operate drones already exist. The gap, in his view, is deployment and political will, not talent.
He proposed blanket surveillance camera coverage across Borno, saying modern equipment can monitor up to 100 meters and would give security forces the visibility they currently lack in one of the country’s most volatile zones.
“Once we can escalate our military assets in Borno and everywhere, that will go a long way to reduce our problem,” he said.
Zulum’s role
Ndume carved out specific praise for Borno Governor Babagana Zulum, saying the governor’s civilian-side stabilization efforts have been the one consistent check on what could have been a far worse collapse.
“If not for the efforts of Prof Babagana Zulum in complementing the efforts of the military in the state, Borno State would have gone down,” he said.
The broader picture Ndume painted Monday was of a crisis that is manageable but being mismanaged, one where the gap between capacity and outcome is less a military problem than a political one.
