Etannibi Alemikha, during an appearance on Channels Television’s
Sunrise Daily on August 10, 2020 said for the war against
insurgency to be won, the military should deploy more of
intelligence and not weapons.
Professor Etannibi Alemikha has disagreed with the
governors of the North-East over the deployment of more heavy
artillery to the region.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s
Sunrise Daily on Monday, Alemikha said the Nigerian military
needs more intelligence.
The criminologist explained that for the war against insurgency
to be won in the region, security operatives need to have
information beforehand on the activities of the Boko Haram
terrorists.
“From the military or security point of view, what is
required is actually not weapons. It is intelligence. At that
point, they need to know when insurgents are planning to attack,
where they are supposed to be attacking and what is the capacity or
force that will be deployed there,” he said.
According to him, the war against terrorism and issues bordering
on security globally are technologically driven.
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While insisting that the troubled northeast region lacks the
intelligence-approach in prosecuting terrorism war, the
criminologist said the military personnel has been provided with
the required weapons.
security meeting at the Government House in Maiduguri on August 9,
2020 called for the deployment of heavy artillery to the region in
the war against insurgency.
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He explained that even if more weapons are provided for them,
the intelligence-capacity is far more important.
“It is not so much the weapons that are required that is
more important than the intelligence. I would have expected that
they will ask indeed that there is the need for the deployment or
greater capacity of intelligence-gathering through the various
media.
“You could have the highest weapons; you will still be taken
unawares. I think what is largely missing in the northeast
situation has been intelligence.
“Why are they always caught unawares? I think that should be
the response rather than the weapons they carry,” he said.
Professor Alemikha’s remarks come 24 hours after the Chairman of
the North-East Governors’ Forum, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno
State asked the Federal Government to provide the region with more
weapons to tackle terrorism decisively.
The governor who made this call during a meeting at the Borno
Government House in Maiduguri on Saturday, advocated the use of
heavy artillery for the Nigerian police to bridge the manpower
deficit in the Armed Forces.