Don’t close the foreign option

Media reports recently suggested that the Federal Government has again sought the services of foreign military advisers and contractors to assist in the final onslaught against Boko Haram insurgents in the North East states. Turkish news agency Anadolu reported, both citing military sources, that 250 such personnel were hired from the South African private firm […]

Media reports recently suggested that the Federal Government has again sought the services of foreign military advisers and contractors to assist in the final onslaught against Boko Haram insurgents in the North East states. Turkish news agency Anadolu reported, both citing military sources, that 250 such personnel were hired from the South African private firm Specialised Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection (STTEP), the same firm that was contracted by the Goodluck Jonathan regime earlier this year. Its men, described then as advisers and trainers, played a crucial role in the six week campaign that regained much of the territory then under Boko Haram occupation in three states.
According to the reports, the men are being deployed along with fighter jets in Operation Fire Force. Other platforms deployed include helicopters, communication, surveillance and medics. STTEP’s contingents are said to include veterans from the apartheid-era South African military who will work with and train a Nigerian strike force. According to STTEP, its trainers and advisers are drawn from conventional, clandestine and covert units of the pre-1994 South African Defence Force. It claims to have a proven track record of success in Africa, the Middle East, the Far East, Central and South America.
Defence Headquarters however denied the stories. Its spokesman Colonel Rabe Abubakar said the report is untrue. He said it is cheap blackmail and can not detract the Nigerian military from achieving its objectives before the December deadline given to it by President Muhammadu Buhari to end the insurgency. Abubakar also said the successes recorded by the military under its current leadership have been attested to by Nigerians and that “we do not need that kind of assistance.”
If indeed there is no such plan to seek foreign help, we urge Defence Headquarters and the Federal Government not to foreclose the option. It is true that President Buhari said during the campaign that engaging foreign “mercenaries” was “shameful” and that it represented “the depth of the weakness of the Nigerian army.” Perhaps it is, but five months since his return to power the president must have reassessed the situation and may see the need for unconventional help in bringing the Boko Haram problem to a quicker end. Under Buhari’s leadership the military has shown a lot of initiative and dynamism in the fight against Boko Haram. Unlike in the past when most stories were about the insurgents taking the initiative and attacking towns and villages, in recent months the military is mostly on the offensive, destroying terrorist camps and enclaves all over the region.
Yet, the problem is far from over with the spate of suicide bombings still ravaging the North East states as well as Abuja. The expected onslaught by a regional military force involving the armies of Chad, Cameroon, Niger Republic, Benin Republic and Nigeria which was expected to be launched last July has not yet materialized. Many people now entertain doubts if this force will ever be deployed. Both the army and Nigeria Air Force are doing their best but it increasingly looks like they still need help in order to accomplish this task more expeditiously.
President Buhari has sought help from nearly all the major powers. It is not certain how much help has so far been received but US President Barack Obama recently announced that 300 US troops will be deployed to Cameroon to help with surveillance and intelligence. This is quite helpful but more help will still be needed to smash Boko Haram’s principal terrorist base at Sambisa Forest in Borno State and halt in their tracks the suicide bombers being sneaked into local communities.
It is for this reason that we advise the government and the military not to foreclose the option of seeking military help from unconventional sources. The rapid gains made by the army in February-March received a lot of boost from the South Africans. The Federal Government should not be deterred from seeking their help again if it will quicken the end of this war. For, any day that this war continues is many more innocent Nigerian lives lost.