The Defence Headquarters has stated that since the inception of its current leadership, soldiers no longer flee from battlefield but now face terrorists squarely, Punch reports.
The Acting Director of Defence Information, Col. Rabe Abubakar, mentioned this when he paid a courtesy visit to the Punch Place, Corporate Headquarters of Punch, on Wednesday.
Abubakar added that since the military command centre relocated to Borno State on the order of President Muhammadu Buhari, the morale of the troops had been boosted and the fight against insurgency had turned in favour of Nigeria.
He stated the presence of military chiefs in the terrorists’ hotbed and the availability of equipment had given soldiers the needed impetus to fight terrorism and maintain discipline.
The military spokesman stated this was why soldiers were no longer granting negative anonymous interviews to the media as was the case during the last administration.
Abubakar added, “If there were not enough weapons, I believe that what used to happen in the past would be happening now such as the desertion of soldiers and soldiers granting interviews to the media.
“One of the elements of fighting insurgency is purposeful leadership and as you know the military chiefs are all in Borno. When a commander is in the midst of soldiers in the frontline, the morale is at an all-time high. When the Chief of Defence Staff is in the same place with you, eating with you, it boosts morale.
“Secondly, we have arms empowerment. The lack of arms led to desertions and court martials but that era is now gone. We now have equipment that can conveniently help us confront this menace of Boko Haram.
“We now have the combined efforts of land combats. And this translates to the achievements we have today. Most importantly is the re-orientation of soldiers. There is now a paradigm shift. There is no propaganda.
“Whatever happens, we will say it as it is. If you observe, since this leadership came on board, whatever we see, we say it because we want Nigerians to appreciate what we are doing. We will keep Nigerians informed of whatever is happening. Those who were dismissed were investigated, recalled and are now being retrained.”