A former Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd.), on Thursday, said the Boko Haram insurgency might linger for another two decades.
Buratai painted the grim picture when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs for screening as a non-career ambassador-designate.
He said the terrorists had, for a long time, indoctrinated the people (that they captured), making it difficult to defeat them within a short period.
He said that although Nigerian troops in collaboration with their counterparts in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger, had been recording successes in anti-Boko Haram war, military onslaught alone could not end the crisis.
Buratai said there were political and socio-economic factors that needed to be addressed.
He said that many communities in northern Nigeria lacked basic amenities.
According to him: “Our troops are also collaborating with Chadian and Cameroonian troops.
“We recorded successes. But the terrorists have permeated into the society.
“My state (Borno) is an epicentre where this indoctrination has penetrated so deep. It is not something you can get right over night.
“Only the military cannot solve this problem. There were socio-economic factors that need to be addressed.
“There should be basic amenities, but they are missing.
“I can count five local government areas in Borno without good road.
“The same thing is in Zamfara, Katsina and Sokoto. In other northern states there are so many ungovernable spaces, because of lack of access road and other basic amenities.
“This crisis might not end in 20 years time. We have achieved a lot of successes but we cannot continue to use the same tactics and achieve different results.”
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