by Yemi Adebowale | Breaking Times
President Muhammadu Buhari has painted a worrisome picture of the on-going war against Boko Haram, saying that there was not enough fire power to support ground troops to decimate the terrorists.
In his words, “The Airforce is virtually non-existent. The fixed wings aircraft are not very serviceable. The helicopters are not serviceable and they are too few.
“We need Airforce to conduct reconnaissance and support the ground troops.
“The arrangement made by the former government will soon expire.
“We have made this clear to the Americans and we have made it clear to G7 and we need their cooperation.”
He spoke on Good Morning Nigeria, a programme of the Nigerian Television Authority, Monday, in Abuja.
He made the comment while failing to answer repeated questions on whether or not he was able to secure a commitment from the US to sell critical equipment to defeat the terrorists.
His words: “The US has high technology, and of course the other developed countries like China. Our case is lack of capacity and effective Airforce.”
President Buhari also vowed to retrieve proceeds of crude oil stolen by corrupt Nigerian leaders.
He said that crack teams of the Nigerian anti-graft agencies were already on the trail of such funds and that those involved would be prosecuted at the end of the investigations.
President Buhari, however, reduced the quantity of the alleged crude oil theft to 250, 000 barrels per day.
He had told Americans during his last week trip to Washington that 1 million barrels were been stolen daily.
He failed to answer repeated questions on whether he got any commitment from America to sell military equipment to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram.
He only lamented that there were not enough serviceable Airforce fighter jets and other military hardwares to quickly win the war against terror.
President Buhari also gave an insight into those to be appointed into his cabinet, saying that he would appoint only patriotic Nigerians who were knowledgeable professionals and technocrats who had not been compromised.
