According to Dumebi Kachikwu, presidential candidate for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Federal Government should increase military recruitment as part of efforts to combat insecurity in Nigeria.
During an interview for a Channels TV programme, Kachikwu delivered the advice. The presidential flagbearer for the ADC said that there are numerous security issues facing the nation.
“The whole country is at war. We have large areas of Nigeria that we now call ungoverned spaces. So, this military is severely challenged and they don’t have enough at this point,” he said on Wednesday.
“So, we have the Civil Defence and the police who are trained in the art of bearing arms but they are not trained the way soldiers are trained. So, we need to give them strategic training for a month or two for them to get to the point where they can react like the soldiers and join that effort.
“If we have 200,000 people join this war, on multi-war fronts, we would chase these people out. But we must understand that this war has been sustained for over a decade now. This is short-term. So, in the medium term, we must start recruiting massively. It takes about seven months to get a civilian to be a soldier, and another two to three years in the art of warfare – bearing different arms and what have you. So, we must start recruiting to get to the point of readiness but we are not doing this.”
The ADC candidate accused the Federal Government of not doing enough to support the military, saying “those who are at the war front, who expect that the country will be solidly behind them” do not get such backing.
“Last year we spent a lot of money buying armament – serious equipment – but you must understand that equipment needs to be operated,” he added. “It needs professional expenses.”
“So, the military is seriously challenged,” Kachikwu maintained.