The Bangladesh Chief of Army Staff, General Abu Shafiul Huq has urged the Nigerian Army to adopt both political and diplomatic lines of operations in its ongoing fight against Boko Haram in the country.
In a lecture titled, “Counter Insurgency Operations: Bangladesh Perspective”, held at the National Defence College, Abuja, General Huq stated that the basic policy for fighting insurgency is to identify and address its “perceived right cause” which could be socio-economic or political.
He advised the political leaders in the country to shun politics of bitterness and unite to fight terrorism in the country by addressing deprived issues as well as providing developmental projects to repose the citizens’ confidence in the government.
He urged the government to counter insurgency ideology by reaching out to all institutions especially the religious bodies in order to dissuade the wrong ideological concept of terrorism.
On the diplomatic line of operations, the Bangladesh Army Chief called for boundary harmonization between Nigerian and her neighbouring countries with regards to the diplomatic side of the operation noting that through this channel activities and movements of Boko Haram insurgents into the country will be monitored.
Recognizing the significant role of the media in counter insurgency operations, General Shafiul Huq advocated for strong military and media partnership in the country to keep the populace abreast of military operations to ensure transparency and accountability.
Commandant of the National Defence College, Rear Admiral Samuel Alade in his remarks, thanked the Bangladesh Army Chief for the visit, adding that such a visit is a sign of the long standing coordinal military relations between the two countries.
He said, “Nigeria and Bangladesh have common contemporary security challenges. We believe that this lecture today would go a long way in helping the Nigerian army in its ongoing counter insurgency operations in the country”.
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