A former Chief of Army Staff (CoAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd), has called on the Federal government to adopt a nationwide mobilisation strategy similar to the lockdown measures used during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to effectively combat terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping across Nigeria.
Speaking on Friday in a Channels Television programme, Buratai, who also served as Nigeria’s ambassador to the Republic of Benin, said the fight against insurgency requires a long-term, coordinated plan that goes beyond military efforts.
“I am very concerned that this insurgency may last longer,” he said. “It is not something that you just wish away. We really need to have a long-term plan, and it is not the military alone that can do it.”
He compared the required response to the nationwide lockdown and heavy investments that were made during the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought the entire country into collective action.
“Look at COVID-19 — how much was spent, how much was invested into information, into communication, into advertisement and so on, into palliatives, into a lot of preventive measures. So much, the whole nation was locked down because of COVID-19. But we can do the same thing, we can lock down this country to make sure that everybody concentrates and deals with this concoction of so-called terrorists and bandits and kidnappers,” Buratai said.
The retired general stressed that Nigeria must see insecurity as a national crisis requiring unity, collaboration, and community-level engagement. He noted that beyond military deployments, citizens, institutions, and the media all have a role to play in weakening extremist networks.
Citing last year’s devastating flood in Maiduguri, Buratai explained how national solidarity helped to provide relief and rehabilitation for affected communities. He argued that a similar model of psychological, material, and social mobilisation could be directed toward stabilising the North-East and North-West.
“The whole country mobilised and supported the Borno State Government and the people of Borno to bring relief, to make sure that the people were rehabilitated. The same thing can be done to mobilise everybody to the North-East, to the North-West, psychologically, through social media, through press and so on. Individuals can support communities. It is quite fundamental,” he said.
Buratai maintained that only a whole-of-nation approach — blending security operations with civic responsibility — can bring lasting stability to areas plagued by insurgents and criminal gangs.