The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Isiaka Amao, on Tuesday, assured members of the Senate that the end of insurgency and banditry was in sight.
His assurance came three days after the Nigerian military lost an Army general and four soldiers to the Islamic State West Africa Province brand of terrorists in Askira Uba, in Borno State.
The Senate through its committee on Air Force, however, tasked the military to intensify its onslaughts against the insurgents and bandits for the required peace and development in the affected areas.
The Air Chief gave the assurance when he defended the 2022 budget of the Air Force before the committee.
He said the insurgents of whatever faction, be it Boko Haram or ISWAP, had been devastatingly decimated and degraded with attendant loss of fighters and weapons on weekly basis, making many of them surrender voluntarily.
He said, “The required onslaughts tactically and strategically are already mapped out to rout the remnants of the insurgents attacking villages and military outposts in pretence of still being potent.
“In line with the core mandate of the Air Force and military, the territorial integrity of Nigeria is being protected against the insurgents and bandits who in no distant time will be completely wiped out,” he said.
He added that the 2021 budgetary allocations given to the Air Force were judiciously used in prosecuting the war against the insurgents and bandits as well as improving the welfare of officers.
He said, “In the face of challenges at hand, prudency and accountability have been the guiding principle of implementation of budgetary allocations by the Nigeria Air Force.”
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ibn Bala Na’ Allah (APC Kebbi South), tasked the military outfit to use all the resources within its disposal in routing out the remnants of the insurgents and making the forests inhabitable for bandits, kidnappers and all forms of criminals.
He said, “The Air Force and by extension, the military generally, deserved commendation from Nigerians as far as war against insurgency and banditry are concerned but Nigerians want these enemies of the Nation to be completely defeated as soon as possible.
“For us on this Committee and in the National Assembly, required Appropriations in terms of procurement of weapons, armaments and enhancement of the welfare of officers and men in the military, shall be made since the essence of governance itself is security and welfare of the citizenry.”
Terrorists of the ISWAP group had on Saturday in Askira Uba ambushed and killed Brigadier-General Dzarma Zirkusu and three soldiers, aside from a soldier earlier killed on Friday by the terrorists within the same radius.
