However,
the tune has changed in the last two weeks as security forces, buoyed
by the Nigerian government’s procurement of state of the art military
hardware, genuine cooperation from regional partners and change in
operational strategies, have made significant gains in the war against
Boko Haram, reclaiming some areas seized by the militants.Mr.
Shekau, whose group has been responsible for the gruesome killing of
over 15,000 Nigerians, has become a sort of mystic figure since claims
of his death in encounters with security forces has been disproved
twice, as he managed to resurface in videos, debunking news of his
death.
This
is just as Shekau’s fighters are beginning to flee from the battlefront
as their strongholds, hitherto considered ‘dreaded’, come under heavy
bombardment from a reinvigorated Nigerian Air Force, leading to optimism
that an end might just be in sight to the insurgency.
The president made the disclosure in an interview with Thisday last
Friday whilst responding to a question on what he is doing about the
terrorist recent threats to disrupt the elections. Jonathan said, God
willing . We will catch Shekau before the elections.
“Concerning
the military strength being not at par to that of Nigeria’s economic
development, there are some countries that don’t have powerful
military”, Mr. Jonathan said.
“I
don’t think Switzerland has a very powerful military. There are some
countries that were even doing away with their military until this issue
of terror, and now some of them are reconsidering.
“What
happened in Nigeria is that after the civil war we had no reasons to
buy sophisticated weapons. Since after the civil war, all what we have
been doing is peace keeping, apart from stabilising Liberia and Sierra
Leone, where our soldiers really fought war to stabilise those
countries.
“Back
home, we were at peace with our neighbours. It is now that we are
witnessing Boko Haram that we see that fighting them is not what we do
with AK 47, and now we have to look for money. I totally agree with you,
if Brazil can manufacture commercial helicopter, what stops us from
going into manufacturing”.
The president further said that if re-elected, his administration would focus on local technologies for arms production.
“Recently,
we wanted to buy tear-gas from a country and they were bragging and
saying that Nigeria has human rights abuse issues. I kept wondering what
is tear-gas? I vowed that God willing if I return, Nigeria must produce
tear-gas”, he said.
“What
is the technology of producing tear-gas for God’s sake? What is the
technology of producing APCs and armoured tanks? I agree with you that
in terms of manufacturing, we must and we have no choice than to get
into it as a nation. That is why we are emphasising about local content
in production; that you can witness in the automobile industry which has
come back”.
Mr.
Jonathan also said that more companies would be issued licenses to
produce arms, to complement the Kaduna-based Defence Industries
Corporation of Nigeria, DICON.
“Just
last week a company that bought over the machine tools in Osogbo came
to show the bullet proof vest that they produced and I asked them, can’t
you produce weapons and they claimed that they can manufacture weapons
if they could be patronised and there is a guarantor”, said the
president.
“Yes
we have our own DICON, but DICON alone cannot produce all our weaponry.
We must have more than two, three companies in a big country like
Nigeria.
“I
told the company that immediately after the elections, if I’ll be here
for the next four years, before they start going for weapons, all the
tear-gas that we’ll use in Nigeria, will have to be produced in
Nigeria”.
Culled from Informationng
No comments:
Post a Comment