Chairman, senate committee on army, Ali Ndume, on wednesday attributed the perennial insurgency in the north-east to inadequate resources and soldiers to combat the menace.
Ndume made the disclosure when he fielded questions from PUNCH newspaper.
Ndume averred that the last of insurgency that has ravaged the north-east for years on end may not be heard any time soon if the federal government did not provide adequate resources and increases the number of soldiers in the flashpoint.
“The challenge that the military have now is lack of resources and inadequate personnel. As long as the resources are not deployed in terms of what they would need, we would continue to have this (insurgency) challenge,” he said.
“In an operation like this, we have only 30, 000 soldiers on ground which is grossly inadequate. They (federal government) have to do something urgently about that.”
Ndume who noted that the government was working to ensure displaced people were returned to their communities, said a lot of persons have been displaced and rendered homeless while fleeing from the insurgents.
“The civilians ran away because of the fears of what would happen to them. They refused to come back. The governor is now appealing to the military to secure the areas so that the residents could return.
“The residents of the affected local government areas in Borno State, taken over by the military following the Boko Haram attacks, have not started returning but the government is making efforts to ensure the return of the people.” He said
The senator also condenmed the abduction of Lawan Andimi, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika local government area in Adamawa by Boko Haram on Thursday.
He asked the military to do everything humanly possible to ensure that he is released and that normalcy returns in the affected communities and states.
Boko Haram insurgents have unleashed terror on communities in the north-east region, causing thousands of citizens to flee their homes.
Borno and Adamawa are worst hit by the insurgency.