Tinubu’s five-year defence plan ready as military eliminates 15,000 terrorists, APC campaign council says
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council says President Bola Tinubu’s five-year strategic defence operations plan, aimed at ending insecurity across Nigeria, is ready.
The council said the plan would strengthen the country’s security architecture, improve military effectiveness and ensure a coordinated response to emerging security threats.
In a statement on Sunday, the APC PCC spokesperson, Dele Alake, said the initiative would provide a long-term framework for aligning defence priorities, operational requirements, military capability development and expenditure with Nigeria’s security challenges.
Alake disclosed that military operations under the Tinubu administration had resulted in the elimination of more than 15,000 Boko Haram terrorists and bandits in the last three years.
He added that more than 130,000 Boko Haram fighters and their dependants had surrendered through Operation Safe Corridor, the Federal Government’s rehabilitation programme for repentant insurgents.
According to him, the figures demonstrate the administration’s two-pronged approach of sustained military operations and non-kinetic interventions to tackle insecurity.
On efforts to strengthen military manpower, Alake said Tinubu had created four new Army divisions and restructured existing military formations to expand operational coverage and improve responses to security threats.
He said the President had also approved the establishment of two additional Army depots in Osogbo, Osun State, and Amasiri-Edda, Ebonyi State, to increase military training capacity.
The two facilities, he said, could accommodate 12,000 recruits at a time, with 5,210 recruits already undergoing training at the Osogbo facility.
Alake further disclosed that Tinubu had approved the recruitment of an additional 28,000 soldiers and 50,000 police officers to reinforce the country’s security agencies.
He said the recruitment drive was expected to increase the number of personnel available for deployment and improve the response of security agencies to criminal activities.
The APC PCC spokesperson also highlighted the administration’s investment in military accommodation and operational infrastructure, citing the construction of a 700-unit military barracks in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
According to him, the project is designed to provide personnel with improved accommodation and operational support, while strengthening the military’s presence in the area.
On the strategic defence plan, Alake said the Federal Government was adopting a more coordinated, intelligence-led, technology-enabled and prevention-oriented approach to addressing terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other forms of criminality.
