Jonathan’s visit to Borno

President Goodluck Jonathan chose the auspicious occasion
of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day of January 15 to visit
Nigeria’s troops in Maiduguri, Borno State, to encourage them
in the war against the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-
East of the country. Even if belated, as some have argued, the
visit is a good development.
The President was returning to the hot-bed of the insurgency
for the first time since March 2013 when he held a
controversial stakeholders meeting with the North-East elders.
There has been much criticism of the president on account of
his perceived reluctance to visit the traumatized region,
especially in the wake of the abduction of over 200 female
students of a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State.
It was a surprise move, therefore, when President Jonathan
arrived in Maiduguri shortly after laying the wreath in Abuja in
memory of our fallen heroes as is the custom of the
Remembrance Day. The President addressed soldiers of the
7th Division of the Nigerian Army at the Maimalari
Cantonment, visited wounded soldiers at the 7th Division
Hospital and Medical Services Centre and mingled with over
900 displaced persons from the recent devastating Baga
attack quartered at the Teachers’ Camp.
It was a morale boosting development for the officers and
men of the Nigerian Armed Forces, as the president used the
opportunity to get a first hand assessment of their situation,
listen to and mingle with his officers and men who are in the
thick of the battle, and fraternized with some of the displaced
persons. The visit showed that the president and, indeed, the
Nigerian country cares for these people and would not
abandon them to their fate, contrary to the impression that
had been created in some quarters, and encouraged by certain
acts of commission and omission by the authorities.
The Boko Haram insurgency has presented Nigeria with her
greatest challenge since, perhaps, the civil war. So, its
campaign of violence can only be handled with levity to the
nation’s peril.
Now that the president has visited the insurgency heartland, it
is expected that the war against the insurgents would receive
a big shot in the arm. The visit should elicit greater
commitment to the war on terror, with better results to show
for it. The issues which, all along, had to do with the morale
of the troops and operational logistics have to be quickly and
effectively addressed. As the president hinted on that visit,
assurances and timelines on when the insurgents would be
defeated must now be strictly adhered to and executed with
military dispatch.
The nation has faced too much embarrassment both at home
and abroad on account of the politicization and lack of
professionalism in the war against terror. We have had too
many cases of apparent dereliction of duty and failure to
properly manage information, and equip the troops in the fight
against the insurgents.
The concluded and ongoing trials of some soldiers for mutiny
and cowardice are a clear indication of discontent and
instability in the system. The tendency in the recent past was
to deny and cover-up reports of such anomalies, but the
scope of the problem has brought it into the public domain.
Our soldiers must be equipped to the hilt if they are to find
the courage and motivation to continue facing an enemy who
has clearly mastered the art of unconventional warfare with
obvious support from patrons and affiliates abroad.
Matters of their welfare and effective mobilization must never
again be toyed with. That is why all present efforts should be
sustained and, in fact, new strategies initiated, to get the buy-
in of the communities where operations against the insurgents
are ongoing, and the future ones anticipated.
The government, armed forces and the generality of the people
have a sacred duty to cooperate in the bid to end this
insurgency. We cannot afford to fail.