The recent killing of 22 soldiers in Borno State by insurgents is a strong indication that the war against terrorism is far from being over. Instead of abating, there are signs that the war is fast assuming a dangerous dimension, which needs to be halted forthwith. The soldiers were killed when suspected Islamic State’s West Africa Province(ISWAP) fighters invaded a military base in Malam-Fatori in Borno State.

No doubt, the slain soldiers have paid the ultimate price in service of their fatherland. We regret that soldiers and civilians have continued to die in the conflict despite the government’s claim that the terrorists had been degraded and even technically defeated.

Since the beginning of the year 2025, Boko Haram and ISWAP have increased their attacks in Borno State. The 15-year old conflict has claimed nearly 40,000 lives and displaced about 2million Nigerians from their homes in the North-East region. It has also exacerbated the out-of-school children’s crisis in the zone, as well as hunger and poverty. The war cannot be allowed to go on interminably, there are must be predictable timeframe to end the war, it is time to ruthlessly deal with the terrorists and decimate them once and for all. Let the government increase the numerical strength of the military to further boost the war effort. The kinetic strategy must be heightened and the troop must take the war to the hideouts of the terrorists.

Though, at Success FM, Ibadan, we commend the strides made so far by the military, the continuous killing of our troops should be minimized. According to Global Firepower, the Nigerian Armed Forces are the third most powerful military in Sub-Saharan Africa and the third most powerful military in Africa behind Egypt and Algeria. It is also ranked 31st in the world. However, Egypt and Algeria, which has smaller populations than Nigeria have more military personnel of 310,000 soldiers and 450,000 soldiers respectively, while Nigeria current military personnel is put at about 230,000.

As the terrorists are getting more sophisticated, our troops should be ahead of them in all departments of the war, there should be no excuse for error any longer in the prosecution of the war. It has become obvious that Nigeria cannot win the war against terrorists without deploying adequate technology.

While the increasing annual budget spending for defense is laudable, release of the fund has become imperative. Above all, let intelligence gathering and sharing among the troops be intensified.

                                                                              BY

                                                             EMMANUEL IBIKUNLE

                                                         DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS,

                                                         SUCCESS 105.3FM, IBADAN.