Borno Governor says Nigeria needs 100,000 more soldiers to defeat Boko Haram

Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state says Nigeria needs about 100,000 additional soldiers to defeat Boko Haram insurgents.

The governor was reported to have said this when some members of the house of representatives led by Benjamin Benson, visited him on Wednesday, February 19, 2020.

Benson, who is the Chairman of the committee on defence told the governor that the committee was in Maiduguri to pay him a condolence visit following the recent Boko Hram attack in Auno. He added that they also wished to seek how they could be of assistance to the people of the state.

Zulum said the war against the insurgents cannot be won without adequate military personnel, adding that the army needs to recruit at least 50,000 soldiers from Borno state.

Nigerian soldiers have been fighting Boko Haram insurgents for years. (Leadership) Pulse Nigeria

He said, “You cannot fight this insurgency to an end without technology and without manpower and without funding.

“Take my words, they (the military) don’t have the manpower, they don’t have the equipment. Kindly advise the speaker and the senate president to tell Mr. President to approve the massive recruitment of soldiers. We need about 100,000 more to be recruited into the Nigerian army. They should come and employ the locals whether they have western education or not.

“We need to recruit nothing less than 50,000 men from Borno, we have able-bodied men that can join the Nigerian Armed Forces on an ad-hoc basis.”

Despite claims that the army is winning the war against Boko Haram, the insurgents have consistently attacked Borno state.

Recently, Boko Haram terrorists killed 30 commuters along the Damaturu-Maiduguri expressway.