The Nigerian armed forces have neutralised scores of terrorist kingpins in the North-East, North-West and North-Central geo-political zones.

The Chief of Air Staff, Oladayo Amao, said this on Tuesday in Abuja at a stakeholders meeting on “Communicating government policies, programme and activities.

“Scores of terrorist kingpins have been neutralised in various airstrikes and ground attacks in the last few weeks in the Northeast, Northwest and North central,’’ he said.

He said operations executed in recent weeks through various airstrikes and ground attacks yielded results because of effective synergy and collaboration between security agencies.

Mr Amao was represented at the meeting by Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, the spokesperson for the Nigeria Air Force.

The meeting was organised by the National Orientation Agency (NOA).

He added that NAF also conducted medical outreaches across the country to strengthen civilian-military relations with the host communities.

According to him, about 400,000 people benefitted.

Also speaking at the event, NOA’s director-general, Garba Abari, urged stakeholders in the security sector to explore civilian-military relations to ensure a safe, secure and peaceful Nigeria.

Mr Abari recalled that in December 2021, NOA, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, held a two-day national summit on “Non-kinetic response to insecurity to complement kinetic efforts to stave insecurity.’’

“Today, we are here to explore areas of synergy aimed at deploying effective non-kinetic strategies to stave insecurity in Nigeria,’’ he said.

According to him, the aim is to instigate a conversation that will produce ideas that will add value to the recommendations produced at the national summit.

In his remarks, Chris Ngwodo, the director-general, Centre for Early Warning, said the non-kinetic response to insecurity played a critical role in complementing security operations.

He said the centre would support the design and implementation of the strategies to achieve the desired results. 

(NAN)