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Nigerian Muhammadu Buhari has urged troops to be more engaged in the fight against Boko Haram despite the many losses suffered during a recent badault during his visit to Maiduguri on Wednesday in the north-east of the country.
The visit took place one day before Buhari traveled to N & Djamena to discuss the Boko Haram conflict with his counterparts in Niger and Chad, his office said.
Addressing delegates at an army conference in Maiduguri, the epicenter of the jihadist insurgency, Buhari acknowledged that the military had done a lot to secure this unstable region.
"The security situation in the north-east has improved remarkably since 2015, when this government came to power and you are part of it," he said.
But defeating Boko Haram was "a war to win," insisted the retired 75-year-old, who will seek a second four-year term in the February elections.
"Our troops should not be distracted, they should be engaged in the task of eliminating Boko Haram from the face of the earth."
The conference was originally scheduled to take place in Benin City in the south of the country, but it was moved to Maiduguri to pay tribute to the soldiers who were killed 10 days ago during an attack on a nearby military base, he declared.
There has been a resurgence of deadly attacks against military and civilian targets in recent months, although the government claims that the jihadists are on the verge of defeat.
AFP has reported at least 17 attempts to overtake army bases since July.
Many of these attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP), a faction of Boko Haram.
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In the latest attack on November 18, at least 43 soldiers were killed at Metele, although the surviving soldiers have more than 100 dead.
Buhari commended the fallen soldiers for their "heroic sacrifices" and pledged to work with the Multinational Coordination Force (MNJT) partners to end the conflict.
The MNJT, composed of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin, was set up to fight Islamists in Lake Chad.
Nigerian Minister of Defense Mansur Dan-Ali said he was in Chad and Niger this week to meet with his counterparts on the Boko Haram issue.
"My recent visit to Niger and Chad (…) was to meet with their defense ministers on strengthening the operational capabilities of the MNJT for the peace and security of the countries of Lake Chad," he said. declared to Maiduguri.
Dan-Ali said the MNJT would attack the circumstances that led to the Metele attack and propose "new ideas and strategies" to prevent this from happening again.
Security badysts say that we need to change tactics for the fight against jihadists to bear fruit.
They believe that Nigeria's regional partners are not doing enough to secure their common borders against insurgents.
The nine-year-long jihadist rebellion in Boko Haram has claimed the lives of more than 27,000 people and forced at least 1.8 million people from their homes, causing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the region.
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