…plan to consult with Jonathan
US worried by security threat in Nigeria

Following the interactive session between the National Assembly and the military service chiefs on the activities of the Boko Haram in the North East, the lawmakers yesterday hinted that they are meeting President Goodluck Jonathan to find lasting solutions to the insurgency.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Defence met with all the service chiefs, led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh at the National Assembly over the worrisome development in the North East.

Briefing newsmen after a five-hour closed door meeting, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence, Senator George Sekibo, explained that the interactive session became necessary in view of the worrisome news emanating from the North East.

He said: “We have heard several stories from the media, some of the stories, the local media are also contributing to it, the military is countering them and somehow it has become difficult to know exactly what is happening in the country.

“We’ve been hearing of stories of major cities in those three states being taken over by the insurgents.

We’ve been hearing of stories of our armed forces being driven away from those areas. That is really scary! “We invited the CDS to get first hand information. From this meeting, it’s not as speculated. We have one or two places that the insurgents have a stronghold, but within few days, the Nigerian Armed Forces will take them back.”

Senator Sekibo added that so far, more equipment have been procured to fight the insurgents, adding that the issue of soldiers’ morale being low will also be soon addressed, saying that Nigerian Armed Forces are capable of handling the situation.

“We’ll report our outcome to both chambers and we’ll meet with Mr. President. We believe that the armed forces will overcome this problem in no time.”

On his part, Chairman, House Committee on Defence, Bashir Adamu, said contrary to the general belief that the military gulps up to N1trn in the budget, it is only about N300bn, out of which about 75 per cent is for recurrent expenditure.

He therefore called for more funds for the military, especially with the security challenges facing the country, so that it could tackle insurgency head on.

He said that as politicians, they would meet President Jonathan on the matter to discuss it extensively so that there would be lasting peace in the North East.

In his contribution, Senator Sani Saleh stated that what the nation was experiencing was a complete deterioration of the situation, adding that it is incumbent on the lawmakers to find out why there has been deterioration in the fight against the insurgents.

He said: “We’ve heard about our soldiers’ mutiny, it is also our responsibility to find out why that is happening.

“For us to understand why that is happening, we need to go back to the Babangida era. After the 1990 Okar coup, the Federal Government of Nigeria systematically and comprehensively disarmed the military. All the tanks, all the artillery guns were disarmed and locked up.

“All the aircraft were parked in Ilorin and other places, flying stopped, training stopped to ensure regime security not national security.

“All the good officers of the Nigerian army were hounded out of the military. And there was over concentration of power at the centre, which was the army headquarters. Prior to that, General Officers Commanding used to have training and manoeuver grants.” n a related development, the United States of America may have rested the controversy concerning who is actually in charge of Bama, the second largest town in Borno State as it yesterday expressed concerns over the capture of the town by members of the Boko Haram insurgents.

While the military authorities insists that the nation’s military forces are firmly in control of Bama, the Senator representing Borno Central senatorial zone in the senate, Senator Ahmed Zannah, has debunked the claim, insisting that Bama has been captured by the insurgents.

Yesterday, the US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Linda Thomas- Greenfield at the opening of the third session at the regional security working group meeting of the Nigeria- US Bi-National Commission in Abuja expressed concerns that Boko Haram attacks have continued to grow in leaps and bounds, constituting acute and serious threat to the security of the country.

In an opening remarks at the meeting, the US envoy said, “Since we last met in August 2013, the frequency and scope of Boko Haram’s terror attacks have grown acute and constitute a serious threat to this country’s overall security.

“Boko Haram has shown that it can operate, not only in the North East, but in Kano, in Abuja and elsewhere. We are very troubled by the apparent capture of Bama and the prospects for an attack on and in Maiduguri, which would impose a tremendous toll on the civilian population. This is a sober reality check for all of us. We are past the time for denial and pride.”

Thomas-Greenfield regretted that despite the collective efforts of Nigeria and the US, the insecurity in the country is worsening, even as the conflict has continued to affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the Lake Chad region.

The envoy expressed worry that the Chibok schoolgirls and others remain hostages, enduring horrible and tragic suffering, noting that, “Abubakar Shekau’s bold announcement that Boko Haram is now governing a Caliphate only adds to the perception that the security situation is steadily worsening. All of these developments are deeply disturbing, and increasingly dangerous with each passing day.”

She disclosed that on the part of the US Government, it continues to provide technical training to the nation’s military and police forces engaged in the fight against Boko Haram

The envoy noted that for the current insurgency to be effectively curtailed, it would require the engagement by all aspects of federal, state and local governments as well as the civil society groups.

According to the envoy, in recognition of the fact by the US that security solutions are only one part of this complex security challenge, the US government, through the US Agency for International Development is establishing new programmes aimed at education initiatives and improving livelihoods in the region.

These programmes, she said, offer broadened education programmes for internally displaced persons and others living in these vulnerable regions.

She said the US is especially concerned about the more than 700,000 internally displaced persons and reports that those numbers continues to increase, stressing that the US government is deeply troubled by the risks to their personal security and their economic livelihood as well as the implications on food security.

Meanwhile, Israel said yesterday that Nigeria has the capacity to handle the Boko Haram group.

Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Uriel Palti stated this in Abuja during an interactive forum with journalists on a talent-hunt project “Ada Chenge Divine Foundation,” a platform to be launched soon for exploring the talents of Nigerians for national development.

Asked how Israeli government has been supporting the Federal Government in the fight against the insurgents after the event, Palti said: “The government of Nigeria is a very powerful government; we trust the government of Nigeria as knowing what to do and how to do it.” He added that Israel offered assistance to Nigeria in the area of intelligence.

According to him, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netayahu, has condemned the Boko Haram including those countries with the challenge of combating international terrorism.

He said further: “International terrorism is a terrible threat to the peace of the world. “You can see what happens at ISIS nowadays; you can see the behaviour of ISIS in the last few days. It is a threat to the peace of the world; it is a threat to America. You can see the behaviour, you can see what happens to Hamas in the Gaza district in the past few days; you can see Boko Haram.”

Earlier, he had said of Israeli’s interest in ensuring that Nigerians explore their talents for the growth of the nation, just as the small Middle-East country became renowned, breaking all odds, through the tapping of the talents of her citizens.

“You have the gifted people; you are going to lead the world. And the breakthroughs and the innovative development and new inventions will all come from the gifted leaders of the world.”

Chairman Transitional Board of Patrons for the foundation, Mr. Edward Ujege, said the project aimed to collate the data of talented Nigerians, whose skills would be harnessed for their own good and for the benefit of the country.

According to him, Chairman of the foundation, Mrs. Roseline Ada Chenge, had sponsored Nigerian youths with good footballing skills to Israel.

“The Foundation’s mission and vision is to create a voice, platform and framework for gifted and talented people to realize their divine purpose, incorporating process and procedure to harness and mobilize resources through contact cooperation and collaboration, for the empowerment of the gifted and the talented people for the enhancement of the society.

“We support the transformational agenda of the Federal Government, and will explore potentials and possibilities of the abundant gifts and talents of Nigeria, towards value addition to the transformational agenda of the nation,” he said.