The Nigerian Army has said that it will take at least 30 years to eradicate the deadly terrorist group, Boko Haram, and that the new generation of North-East people need to be educated and re-oriented before the war against the insurgents can be won.
The Acting Director of Nigerian Army Information Management, Brigadier General Folorunso Oyinlola, made this known at the 22nd Edition of Social Media Seminar on Civil-Military Relations which took place in Benin, the Edo State capital.
He lamented that the activities of the terrorist group became worst after its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was killed by the police.
It should be recalled that Mohammed Yusuf was captured in Maiduguri in 2009, and was killed in police custody shortly after that.
Folorunso Oyinlola said – “Insurgency is not something that can be filtered away with the snap of a finger.
The insurgents live with us. We can’t bomb the whole of Edo State under the guise of fighting Boko Haram. We’ll need a minimum of 30 years to be able to defeat Boko Haram. We will need a new generation of Northeasterners who will have to be educated for us to declare that we have defeated Boko Haram.”
For over a decade now, the activities of the terrorist group have led to the death of thousands of people in the Northern part of the country, while many more have been forced to run away from their communities to seek refuge in other places.
Many people have expressed surprise at the statement from the Army that it will take about 30 years to eliminate the terrorist group. Many have wondered why it will have to take that long.
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