We’ve lost soldiers, brought calm to war theatres — DHQ
The Military High Command Thursday said it lost some of its personnel to battles at the various theatres of operations across the country in the last two weeks.
It, however, noted that their death was not in vain as it had brought about relative calm in most of the theatres.
Acting Director, Defence Media Operations, Brig.-Gen. Benard Onyeuko, said this in Abuja yesterday while briefing journalists on the activities of troops within the last two weeks.
“While the security situation in some locations remained peaceful and calm, some other areas recorded some incidents within the period.
“Gentlemen of the press, gleaning from the updates from the various theatres of operations as I’ve highlighted, there is no gainsaying there is a relative reduction in the spate of incidents in the various theatres of operations.
“However, in the course of these operations, some of our troops paid the supreme price and some others sustained varying degrees of injuries.”
He said troops of the Nigerian Air Force had destroyed no fewer than three gun trucks belonging to the members of Islamic State West Africa Province terrorists while crossing DamaturuMaiduguri Road to wreak havoc on innocent citizens.
He said the troops neutralised all occupants in the gun trucks.
Onyeuko said the Air Force troops, who carried out the operations using NAF Mi-35 helicopters, acted upon receiving a distress call and ensured that all the terrorists’ weapons were recovered during the mop-up operation.
He said: “On 2 July 2021 some elements of BHT/ISWAP terrorist crossing Damaturu - Maiduguri Road in 3 Gun trucks attacked innocent civilians along their path. After receiving a distress call on the incident a NAF Mi-35 helicopter was despatched to the location and engaged terrorists.
“The 3 gun trucks were destroyed with most of its occupants, other fleeing terrorists were neutralized by the ground troops during mop-up operation and recovered some weapons as well.”
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has dismissed claims that Nigeria has 17 million housing deficit.
Fashola spoke Thursday during the weekly ministerial briefing organised by Presidential Communication Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said the National Bureau of Statistics and some international organizations, including the African Development Bank that he consulted, confirmed that the Nigerian housing deficit reports were incorrect.
According to him, the fact that people left their houses in the rural areas to squat in the cities does not amount to housing deficit in the country.
He said: “It’s illogical to say we have that housing deficit when you have empty houses. No such deficit exist anywhere in the world.”
Fashola said the actual housing deficit in Nigeria could not be ascertained until another census was conducted in the country.
He said: “We’re not in a housing crisis and this is the subject of a full discussion. My take is that the housing shortages, essentially, in all parts of the world, are in the urban centers and not in the rural areas. So, it’s a problem that has come as a result of urbanization. People move from rural to urban centres and create a supply and demand problem.
“You’ll find that many of the people in urban centers like Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna, Abeokuta, etc, seeking to squat with somebody or trying to rent a house, have an empty home in his village.