The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, on Tuesday, said the arrest of Simon Ekpa in Finland has greatly reduced the tension in the South East.

This development, he said, alongside Operation Udoka by the Defence Headquarters, is restoring peace in the region.

Operation Udoka was established to flush banditry and end the sit-at-home situation in the South-East.

Musa said they were working with the people to ensure stability in the region.

He said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Defence to defend the 2025 budget.

Musa said, ?With the arrest of Simon Ekpa, it has greatly reduced the tension. Also with Operation Udoka, we?re also doing that, picking up most of the leadership that are there, taking them out, and then making sure that the place is peaceful.

?The sit-at-home on Mondays is gradually diminishing. We?re also working with the political leaders there because we understand, as I said always, that we need to have local support because without it, it?s difficult. You know, the terrain is very challenging, so we need to work together. It is improving.?

Musa said the last holiday period was very peaceful because they were very proactive.

He said they were committed to non-kinetic measures of addressing the security problem and this was yielding positive results.

?We had some intelligence and worked ahead to ensure that everywhere was kept peaceful. That has happened and we intend to do that and continue to do more. What we try to encourage is joint efforts, and synergy in our operations.

?And like we always appeal for Nigerians to understand that they have to take ownership of their armed forces, they have to take ownership of the security challenges we are facing. It?s not a challenge for the armed forces alone or security agencies, it?s everybody?s responsibility to do.

?And we?re happy that we?re beginning to get that support from everywhere. Human intelligence information is coming, it?s flowing quite very well and we are taking adequate action and that?s why we see things are improving.

?What we have done is that we have established and enhanced the kinetic efforts for the three services for our operations. We have the Delta Safe, which is in the South-South for Oil theft and Militancy. At least for the first time now we have been able to reach our OPEC oil quota for Nigeria and we intend to do more.

?Our target is to hit 2.2 million barrels a day for Nigeria. It?s not something that we can also do alone. We also need the other stakeholders in the oil industry to play their roles. We are doing more, providing more security. We are close to 2 million barrels per day. We intend to do more. This year, we want to intensify our operations so that we take out.

?We have formed groups that are discussing with the locals. And we have found that that discussion has helped a lot. So we have the religious leaders, the cultural leaders, and every stakeholder is also part of it. We realize that if we carry everybody along, it makes it a lot easier. As we said, the best general is a general who does not need to shoot. If you can solve the problem without firing it is better.

?So that by the time we do that, those are willing to move, we move them out, and those that are unwilling, then we go after them. But the kinetic and the non-kinetic must continue to go hand in hand. And it is working very well,? Musa said.

The CDS urged the improvement of border management to address the problem of smuggling.

He said several children who were being trafficked were rescued by them.

?We have rescued several children being trafficked across Nigeria to other countries. And then trafficking of drugs, small arms, light weapons. We?re working in tandem with the Customs. When we make such arrests, we call either the NDLEA or the Customs and hand them over to them. So these are extra things that we?re doing,? he said.

He said they were committed to ensuring peace across the country.

Without peace, there cannot be development. And nobody is happy when things are not peaceful. Because even if you think you have, sometimes you might be the ones at the receiving end. So that has equally helped us a lot.

He also expressed concern about the troops? welfare, which he said was dismal.

?Now what is our other concern? Troops? welfare. We know generally the economy, everybody is having the heat. And we?re no more different. So we?re looking at the aspect of also improving the welfare of our troops, the RCA, Ration Cash Allowance. We?re still struggling at less than N2,000 per soldier per head to feed.

?We?re happy that Mr. President has recently increased the salaries to some extent of the junior class, which is the junior grade of personnel, which has also enhanced their ability.

?We know the country is going through so much and it?s not only the military that needs support, but I think we want to get more, we can do more.

?We also need accommodation. Every year we recruit almost 25,000 for all the services. And those going on retirement, every year they are not up to 5,000. So you see we?re getting almost 20,000 into the system. The issue of new barracks, construction, old barracks, and renovation, are issues we have to address because now that we?re beginning to get peace.

?Gradually we?re going to return to barracks. We don?t want to go back to barracks and then we?ll start living in tents or in batches like it was before. So we must be able to work ahead to establish new barracks that have been established and then to be able to carry out renovation,? he said.

He also stressed the need to drive local manufacturing of weapons as it was difficult to get weapons internationally.

He said this was a major reason the fight against insecurity has persisted.

?We also need equipment. We have also tried to increase, because we realized that, because we don?t produce what we need, it?s been very difficult. That?s one of the reasons why the warfare has continued for this long because we have to rely on getting hard currency to go abroad.

?When you go there to buy, again, you don?t get this thing off the shelf. Sometimes you have to pay. And now with the Ukraine-Russian war, it has made it extremely more difficult; because America particularly is paying off most of the items. So when you go there, they say it?s already been booked. So to get it is a problem. So we realize that we need to also start producing what we need.

?And that we have started with the DICON bill that Mr. President signed. We are doing a lot together to try and bring regional equipment manufacturers to come and produce in Nigeria With the DICON, what we are doing again is we have several local manufacturers of weapons.

?They have the talents, but they don?t have anywhere to showcase it. So the tendency is if they are not used positively, they will go because they want to survive, they will go negatively. And that?s why in some areas we have identified some people that produce very good weapons, automatic, but local.

?So what we are doing is we are trying to get them, bring them in, give them the platform so that they can come and legitimately produce this thing. And gradually, Nigeria can start producing its kind of weapon. So we don?t have to rely on foreigners to get our weapons.

?We are doing that and looking at experts. What we are doing, we are talent hunting them all over the country and then bringing them in to be able to produce this item for us,? he added.

Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Rep Babajimi Benson, said as representatives of the people, they must ensure that every Naira is judiciously spent to strengthen the operational capacity of the Air Forces and deliver tangible results.

He said this year?s budget defence is particularly significant as it comes against the backdrop of evolving global and domestic security threats.

These recent developments highlight the need for heightened vigilance and inter-agency collaboration, he said.

?We must leverage intelligence, technology, and best practices to neutralize emerging threats and safeguard our citizens. As we deliberate on the 2025 budget, I urge all defence agencies to prioritize strategic initiatives that align with national security objectives,? he said. (Vanguard)

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