…insists the military alone cannot combat insurgency
…says we need sc and tech to conquer Boko Haram
…NASS has a major role to play
Ambassador Abdullahi Omaki on Monday said if Nigeria must survive as an entity there is an urgent need to adopt a kinetic approach to kill insurgency in the country.
Ambassador Omaki made this known while speaking at a one-day ‘National Defence and Security Summit’ entitled: ‘Promoting Kinetic Operations As a Major Plank For Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency In Nigeria’.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports one-day ‘National Defence and Security Summit’ was organized by the office of the Chief Defence Staff (CDS).
“If Nigeria must survive as an indivisible entity it must adopt the kinetic approach to stop terrorism and all forms of insecurity plaguing it now,” Omaki said.
Amb Omaki who was the guest speaker and the Executive Director of Savannah Centre for Democracy and for Democracy Development insisted fighting insurgency must involve every Nigerian as the military cannot do it alone.
He explained that: “the kinetic approach of tackling insurgency was suggested first by a US journalist in year 2002 after 9/11 that encompasses applying full military force without much collateral damage”.
He said the situation now in Nigeria has gotten to the stage to adopt this strategy to counter insurgency without necessarily losing the lives of civilians.
Giving vivid examples of where the kinetic approach has been used to counter insurgency, Omaki insisted that the National Assembly (NASS) has a role to play because the US Congress gave the US president full authorization to adopt the strategy.
He said it was this strategy that was adopted to bring down the Taliban Government in Afghanistan after all other military tactics had failed.
Also the UK Government had to adopt the same kinetic approach to quel the Northern Ireland insurgency that started in 1969 but was finally subdued in 2007.
He said Nigeria is now at the point to adopt the kinetic approach using all levels of security agencies and adopting the use of science and technology.
He gave instances, including when a foreign country came to Nigeria to rescue kidnapped citizens without a shot because science and technology was used.
Using more than 30 slides to drive home his point, Omaki insisted that all hands must be on deck to combat insecurity but that the way out is the kinetic model.
All critical stakeholders, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, religious leaders, traditional rulers, key chairmen of security related committees in NASS, top military officers and other discussants attended the event.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi traced the genesis of the insurgency in Nigeria and how the FG had put many structures in place to combat it.
He said the summit is timely and that it is expected to address major security challenges in Nigeria.