ON BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY

Today; The Governor of Borno state pleads with the military to help take back 3 LGAs in the state that are now controlled by Boko Haram. This is indeed a Bad development, especially since the Governor now confirmed the rumours that has been going round for a few weeks but denied by the Army. The Military alone cannot win this war.
So what do we need:
Better Inter-Agency cooperation is needed. There is still no credible cooperation between security agencies who distrust each other and acts in silo. Govt must deploy massive Soft Power in addition to Hard power it is using. The root causes of poverty and deprivation must be addressed. Hearts and minds need to be won as well locally. Counterinsurgency cannot be fought like normal war. Effective Intelligence is the Backbone to win any counterinsurgency war. This is a major area of weakness in our security estate. The SSS should give more attention to this in support of the Defence intelligence outfit I propose a new Special Tactical Support unit should be created within the NPF. They should be given special additional training to enable them (working with the military) keep the spaces that is cleared of insurgents. Currently; the military clears a town and move to the next one. But insurgents simply return after the military leaves. This creates a vicious circle of cyclical warfare that is unending. Ordinary police officers are not trained to the level required for counterinsurgency safeguarding ; specialist team is required.
I know the government is trying but without better and creative minds planning our strategies we will keep using analogue techniques to fight digital battles. Simply throwing more money at the military will not yield the desired outcome with tactical and strategic reforms.