Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno has reiterated his call for Nigeria to engage the services of mercenaries to tackle banditry and insurgency across the country.

Mr Zulum made the call at a weekly briefing by the Presidential Communications Team led by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Wednesday, in Abuja.

The governor said there was nothing wrong with the government hiring mercenaries to address security challenges, particularly in the Northeast zone of the country.

“While the challenge of insecurity is being solved gradually, it is not yet over. I have said it times without number that in addition to what we are doing, there is a need for government to rethink and look into the possibility of hiring mercenaries.”

According to Mr Zulum, countries such as the United States, Britain and other countries stronger than Nigeria, “used to seek support from outside. There’s nothing wrong because this problem has been compounded.” 

He said it was not enough for the federal government to buy equipment, that “there is the need for us to seek support from external agencies, to defeat these insurgents once and for all, before the matter reaches other parts of the nation.

“This is very important whether we like it or not, we have an existing gap that we need to fill and this gap by now cannot be filled without external support’’, Mr Zulum added.

(NAN)