The Presidency has said Nigeria will not seek the help of foreign mercenaries, ahead of the December presidential deadline for the nation’s armed forces to end the activities of the Boko Haram sect.
The remark by Nigeria ‘s Presidency is coming as Nigerian terror group is ranked as the most lethal terrorist attacks in the world, according to the 2015 Global Terrorism Index. The index is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace based on data from the Global Terrorism Database, which is collected and collated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, stated this on Saturday in an interview with the PUNCH.
Adesina, who was responding to a question on whether or not President Muhammadu Buhari would ask the military to seek external help in view of recent attacks by the sect, said it was uncharacteristic of the President to direct the military to seek external help in form of mercenaries.
He said Buhari’s position had always been that the nation’s military has the capacity to end insurgency in the country, having performed creditably well in peace-keeping missions in many countries.
Adesina insisted that while the President would appreciate foreign support in terms of equipment, trainings and intelligence, he would not be favourably disposed to mercenaries.
The presidential spokesman said, “The position of the President has always been that he believes the military has the capacity to fight terrorism.
“President Buhari has always made it clear that Nigeria will appreciate support in terms of equipment, training and intelligence. The support the President is seeking is definitely not in terms of manpower or what you will call mercenaries.”
According to the report, Iraq had 25 per cent of all terrorist incidents, followed by Pakistan with 14 per cent and Afghanistan with 12 per cent. Nigeria reportedly experienced only five per cent of the incidents but had the second highest number of deaths at 23 per cent.
“Terrorist attacks are much more lethal in Nigeria than any other country. On average there were 11 deaths per attack in Nigeria. In contrast, Iraq had an average of three deaths per attack.
“The 2015 Global Terrorism Index highlights that terrorism continues to rise. The total number of deaths from terrorism in 2014 reached 32,685, constituting an 80 per cent increase from 18,111 the previous year.
“This is the highest level ever recorded. The significant majority of these deaths, over 78 per cent, occurred in just five countries; Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria,” the report read.
