Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno has reiterated his call for engaging mercenaries to complement the efforts of the nation’s security agencies, in tackling insurgency across Nigeria.

Zulum made the call at the weekly briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team led by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Wednesday, in Abuja.

According to the governor, there was nothing wrong with government hiring mercenaries to address the challenges of insecurity, particularly in the North-East of the country.

“While the challenge of insecurity is being solved gradually, it is not yet over. I have said it times without number that in addition to what we are doing, there is a need for government to rethink and look into the possibility of hiring mercenaries.

“I have said it times without number, there’s nothing wrong. America, Britain many more countries that are stronger than Nigeria, used to seek support from outside. There’s nothing wrong because this problem has been compounded.

“And it’s not easy for us to solve the security challenges that we’re having now. While Nigeria is providing a lot of things, the federal government is buying equipment, there is the need for us to seek support from external agencies, to defeat these insurgents once and for all, before the matter reaches other parts of the nation.

“This is very important whether we like it or not, we have an existing gap that we need to fill and this gap by now cannot be filled without external support,” Zulum said.

The governor also stressed the need for the federal government to sanitise the recruitment processes into the army, police and other security organisations.

According to him, over $6 billion worth of property had been lost in the last 13 years as a result of insurgency in the North-East region of Nigeria.

He affirmed that the insurgency that ravaged the zone was responsible for poverty and other socio-economic challenges facing the North-East region.

“The insurgency has triggered acute humanitarian and post displacement crisis, devastating social and economic impact on the population, further deepening fragility and poverty in the North-East region.

“The outcome of the recovery peace building assessment by the World Bank, EU and UN revealed that a total sum of about $6.9 billion was lost as a result of the insurgency in the entire North-Eastern states. Out of this, Borno State accounts for over two-thirds.

TheStar