The Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, has said Nigeria cannot defeat terrorism through military operations alone, stressing that lasting peace will only come from combining security action with dialogue, community cooperation and other non-military approaches.
Musa made the remarks on Thursday, July 9, during the ARISE NEWS Townhall on State Police, where he said the armed forces remain committed to defeating terrorists but acknowledged that military operations alone cannot resolve the country’s security challenges.
“You must be able to bring the kinetic and the non kinetic working together,” Musa said.
He explained that Nigerian troops operate under clearly defined rules of engagement that govern the use of force during military operations.
“Members of the armed forces have their rules of engagement. Once you are deployed out for an operation, you are allowed to take out the enemy using the standards,” Musa said.
According to him, soldiers undergo extensive training before deployment to help them distinguish between terrorists, bandits and innocent civilians.
“As professionals, we train our troops before deploying them. And once they are deployed, they are able to identify who is a bandit, who is a terrorist, and who is a civilian,” Musa said.
The defence minister described asymmetric warfare as particularly difficult because armed groups often blend into the communities where they operate.
“Asymmetric warfare is a very, very difficult operation, because the enemy is within, the enemy is just that individual that you think is your citizen, or is your brother, or is your uncle, that you are protecting, is the one that could help me,” Musa said.
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Drawing from international experience, Musa cited Turkey’s decades-long conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as an example of why a combination of military action and dialogue is necessary.
“In Turkey, they’ve been dealing with the PKK for over 40 years. It is just of recent, they are beginning to recover, and because they had to use the kinetic and the non kinetic,” Musa said.
He maintained that military operations represent only part of a successful counterterrorism strategy. “No country can shoot itself to peace,” Musa said.
“The kinetic aspect is based about 25, 30%. The non kinetic, which has to do with dialogue, discussion, understanding.”
Musa emphasised that local communities play a decisive role in the fight against terrorism because insurgents often live among them.
“These terrorists live within the communities,” Musa said.
He noted that security operations become more effective when residents provide intelligence but are more difficult where communities support or protect criminal groups.
“If the communities are on their side, it makes it difficult for the security forces to win the battle. And if the communities are with them, the security forces, it makes it a lot easier,” Musa said.
The minister urged policymakers to tackle the underlying causes of insecurity rather than focusing only on military responses.
“The question we want to ask is, why are we where we are? And are we addressing those symptoms that have taken us where we are to be?” Musa said.