Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum yesterday appealed to the military to recapture Kukawa Local Government Area from insurgents and restore security to Abadan and Marte local government areas.
He said this would expedite rebooting of economic activities in the Lake Chad region.
The governor spoke in Maiduguri when the Minister of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi visited to assess the counterinsurgency operations
He said: “Under Kukawa Local Government Area, Baga, Cross-Kauwa and Kukawa town itself need to be retaken; there must be military presence and with the resettlement of communities back in these three locations with immediate effect.
“This will rejuvenate the economy of this region and it will reduce the menace of insurgency; because right now, we have over 500,000 people in Monguno without doing anything, we have 300,000 in Gajiram who are not doing anything, we have about 150,000 people in Mobar staying idle; this is serious threat to us. They can be recruited by the Boko Haram and this our peace will end if Boko Haram recruit these people in these local governments; and believe me no one can control them.”
Zulum further stated: “The road between Maiduguri and Gamboru Ngala is very important to us, Honorable Minister. There have not been commercial activities going in this road in last 3 to 4 years.
“There are no major activities on Maiduguri-Baga Road for the last 3 to 4years…Right now, people are conveying fish to the Republics of Chad and Cameroon; they are taking fish from the shores of Nigeria to these countries and importing it back to Nigeria again,” the governor said.
The minister had said the military would redesign the insurgency battle to suit the environment.
He assured that the troops would take the battle to the enclaves of the insurgents.
