A team of experts from the Lake Chad Basin Commission under the auspices of the African Union, AU, has paid a visit to the Headquarters of the Theatre Command Operation Lafiya Dole in Maimalari Cantonment, Maiduguri.
In a statement by the Deputy Director Public Relations, Theatre Command Operation Lafiya Dole, Onyema Nwachukwu, the team, which was led by Eleanor Nwadinobi, a Gender Advisor, was constituted by the AU in conjunction with the Multinational Joint Task Force.
According to Mr Nwachukwu, the visitation was to proffer stabilisation and revitalisation strategies for the Lake Chad Basin.
Mrs Nwadinobi stated further that the team was mandated to research and work out strategies in the areas of Humanitarian, Socio-economic, Educational, Governance, Gender as well as Prevention and Countering of Violent Extremism to revitalize and stabilize the Lake Chad Basin.
The leader of the delegation further revealed that in carrying out its mandate, it was expedient for the team to visit the Lake Chad Basin Commission member states.
She lauded the Theatre Command and troops of Operation Lafiya Dole for the successes so far recorded in the Counter terrorism and Counter insurgency operations against the Boko Haram terrorists.
Responding, the Theatre Commander Operation Lafiya Dole, Rogers Nicholas, told the team of experts that the security situation in the north-east is generally calm as the Boko Haram insurgents have been degraded.
He, however, added that the terrorists have resorted to callously carry out isolated suicide bombing and IED attacks on vulnerable and soft targets.
While fielding questions from members of the team, the theatre commander lamented that a wrong narrative about the on-going war on terror is undermining the operation and misrepresenting it in the public domain.
According to him, Nigerian state is at war and must be recognized as such to enable the effective mobilization of all instruments of national power to prosecute the war.
“It is high time we reversed the wrong narrative that the ongoing war is between the Nigerian military and Boko Haram insurgents , it is rather a war between the Nigerian nation and the Boko Haram terrorists “, he added.
Mr Nicholas, who is a major-general, pointed out that other stakeholders must play their roles in the multi-faceted war against the terrorists for the attainment of total defeat.
He, therefore, urged the team to be judicious in the execution of its mandate to facilitate the restoration of socio – economic development in the region.
