NIGERIA is teetering towards failure. Over two million of the citizens are displaced, many of whom are clustered in unsecured IDP camps due to terror attacks.

The military, tasked with protecting the country, is overstretched battling terrorists, bandits, bloodthirsty Fulani herdsmen, and militias on all fronts.

Porous borders enable unchecked arms smuggling from the insurgent-ridden Sahel region. The military top brass acknowledges this as a major factor behind the resurgent attacks aimed at creating ungoverned spaces for sundry illicit activity.

On the socio-economic front, citizens are suffering under harsh government policies, worsened by the abrupt removal of the petrol subsidy and the flotation of the naira by President Bola Tinubu in 2023.

Among the most troubling developments is the ongoing siege on the military. The resurgence of terror attacks since January, especially by Boko Haram and ISWAP, has taken a heavy toll. This paints a picture of a weakened country.

Military formations have become targets for Nigeria’s enemies. This is an alarming anomaly. Bandit leader Bello Turji, based in Zamfara State, recently capped his brazen Ramadan visit to Sokoto by killing over 10 people as he travelled with his rampaging gang.

Curiously, security agencies passed the buck over who was responsible for apprehending him, while the Defence Headquarters dubiously claimed Turji was on the run.

A member of the House of Representatives from Zamfara, Aminu Jaji, recently recounted the horrific ordeal of an abducted pregnant woman who gave birth to twins in captivity, only to witness the bandits feed her babies to their dogs. This is the stuff of horror movies.

Jaji said: “Our people are no longer safe, they cannot farm, they cannot trade, and many are internally displaced, unrecognised by both the state and federal governments.”

There is a growing sense among citizens that the government and security forces have lost he capacity and the will to protect them. Bandits now exact taxes from rural communities and farmers and adjudicate disputes. This is an unambiguous sign of a failing state.

Reports of relentless attacks on troops and military assets are increasingly hard to bear. Last year, a video of a grief-stricken soldier consoling a weeping colleague after a devastating terror attack on their base went viral. “Stop crying, please,” he pleaded repeatedly.

This year, insurgents have overrun several military formations. Soldiers have been killed and wounded, their weapons looted, and valuable military assets burned or seized, with dangerous implications.

Earlier this month, Boko Haram terrorists killed five soldiers in an attack on a military base in Marte, Borno State. The assailants overpowered the soldiers, destroyed their facility, and burned what they could not carry away.

A lawmaker from Plateau State, Yusuf Gagdi, stated that arms and ammunition seized by terrorists over the years were worth trillions of naira. It is incongruous that Nigerian taxpayers are now indirectly arming terrorists.

Hours after the Marte raid, terrorists attacked military formations in Rann, Gajiram, and Dikwa, all in Borno. While troops reportedly repelled the Gajiram and Dikwa attacks, four soldiers were killed and six wounded in the Rann invasion.

Since January, many military formations in the Lake Chad area and Mandara Hills in Borno and Yobe have been overrun by insurgents, who now reportedly deploy sophisticated drones for attacks and surveillance.

Despite this, government and military chiefs downplay concerns that the enemy is better armed than the troops, claiming that thousands of terrorists have been killed, captured, or have surrendered. However, frontline soldiers remain distressed and in urgent need of superior intelligence and firepower.

The military must change its strategy and seek assistance from countries with proven records in counterinsurgency warfare if Nigeria is not to descend into farce.

This year, the defence budget allocation was N4.91 trillion, double that of 2023. This must be justified. Nigeria’s military must prove its superiority over the terrorists.

punch