{"id":118574,"date":"2025-05-09T15:39:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T14:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=118574"},"modified":"2025-05-09T15:39:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T14:39:07","slug":"nigeria-winning-against-insecurit-defence-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nigeria-winning-against-insecurit-defence-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria Winning Against Insecurit- Defence Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Daniel Adaji<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nigeria\u2019s Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru has declared that the country is gaining significant ground against insurgents, even though the battle remains a complex and unconventional guerrilla war.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking at the 2025 ministerial press briefing on Wednesday, Badaru countered recent concerns raised by the House of Representatives that terrorists possess superior warfare.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThat is absolutely not true,\u201d he declared. \u201cWe have much more sophisticated equipment and we have much more sophisticated drones.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the Minister, while the nation has made measurable strides in restoring peace and reclaiming lost territories, the insurgency has evolved.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThis war is not a conventional one. It is like a guerrilla war. They watch us, they have informants among us, among the people that we try to protect. And they give them information and they jump at us when we don&#8217;t expect,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Defence Minister highlighted that terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) have been significantly weakened through coordinated military efforts, especially in the North East.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cOver the past two years, our intensified operation have significantly weakened Boko Haram and ISWAP strongholds. Several high-value targets have been neutralised and dozens captured,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Badaru reported major improvements in security along key routes like Maiduguri-Gamboru and Kaduna-Abuja, and the return of displaced communities to towns in Borno State.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThose of you in the area would not dare pass through these roads two, three years ago. But now the security has improved significantly,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the issue of armed drones allegedly used by terrorists, the Minister clarified that these devices are not advanced military-grade UAVs. \u201cWhat we saw up to today are normal small drones, civilian drones. They just tie bombs to it\u2014improvised bombs\u2014and just drop. It\u2019s not sophisticated. It\u2019s not armed drone that has strategic guidance,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt\u2019s just publication.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">To combat this, the Minister said Nigeria has enhanced its intelligence operations, both domestically and with international partners.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWe are doubling our intelligence and monitoring the use of civilian drones now,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Minister cited figures: from May 2023 to February 2025, the military neutralised 13,543 terrorists and criminals, arrested 17,469, and rescued 9,821 hostages. In addition, over 124,000 terrorist fighters and their families surrendered. Recovered arms include 11,118 weapons and 252,596 assorted ammunitions.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cActually, the military are neutralising these bandits by day and the leaders are going down by day,\u201d Badaru added.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also highlighted the success of non-kinetic programs like Operation Safe Corridor, noting its effectiveness in de-radicalisation. \u201cThis program has been very, very effective,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the north-central region, coordinated efforts have led to the destruction of gun factories in Plateau State and the arrest of kidnappers and arms traffickers.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThree gun-making factories were discovered and destroyed in Birom and Mangu areas,\u201d he revealed.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He also addressed the economic sabotage in the South-South. Troops under Operation Delta Safe have destroyed thousands of illegal refining sites, boosting oil production from 1.25 million barrels per day in early 2023 to around 1.6 million currently. \u201cSometimes it goes up to 1.8m, \u201d he added.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Defence Ministry, he said, has also expanded its domestic arms production. \u201cAs of today, 53 companies have an MOU with us about 10 of them have started production, including some light drones, MRAVs, PCs, helmets, and safety vests.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Badaru maintained that defeating insurgency requires more than firepower. \u201cHistory shows that defeating asymmetric threats requires not just bullets and bombs, but winning hearts and minds, stabilising local economies, de-radicalising ideologies and rebuilding governance structures,\u201d said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He assured the public of continued commitment under President Bola Tinubu&#8217;s administration.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe President\u2019s firm directive, \u2018Enough is Enough,\u2019 signals reinforcement of political will, which spurs us to double our efforts.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe fight is not over,\u201d Badaru said, \u201cbut we are winning.\u201d<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daniel Adaji Nigeria\u2019s Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru has declared that the country is gaining significant ground against insurgents, even though the battle remains a complex and unconventional guerrilla war.&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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