President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday challenged the nation’s military on the requisite intelligence needed to find and rescue the missing girls of Government Secondary, School, Chibok.

The President said that the nation was relying on the military on the intelligence and the right strategy from the ground forces to retrieve the abducted girls from the captivity of the Boko Haram.

Buhari, who recalled that he held a meeting with the parents of the missing secondary school girls, who were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents in April, 2014 on Thursday stressed that expectations were on the military to recover them.


 
Buhari made the comment while speaking on a live chat with the commanders and troops of Operation Lafiya Dole shortly after the wreath laying ceremony of the 2016 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration in Abuja on Friday.

The President also promised to provide the necessary arms and ammunition and the logistics for the prosecution of the campaign against the insurgency in the North-East.

Buhari, who placed emphasis on the welfare of the troops, said that the government would ensure payment of their allowances to sustain the families of the troops battling the insurgents in the North East.

He said, “I have just completed the parade, it was a very successful one and I am very pleased indeed with this innovation. More so, I didn’t know about it before. It was very impressive and a morale booster. I congratulate you very much indeed.

“Yesterday, I had a meeting with the mothers and fathers of the Chibok girls. The nation is anxiously waiting for you to provide intelligence on their whereabouts and then, the ground forces developing the strategy and tactics to recover them. We wish you the best of 2016.

“I hope you have been able to cope in spite of the weather over there. It is dusty and cold. And from the situation report I have been receiving, I am very impressed, and I thank you and congratulate you for doing your best in the circumstances. Thank you very much.

“Please, tell them that we are all concerned here about their performance, as much as the rest of the nation. I hope they are in touch with their respective families at home and I hope everybody is fine.

“I assure you, the government is doing its best to make sure that they are provided with the best that is possible in terms of military hardware and efficiency in logistics, and that you are paid your allowances so that your family would be happy back in the barracks.”

The President was briefed with live pictures from the battle fronts of the operational theatre with facilities provided by the Eagle Mobile Command Post of the Armed Forces led by Maj.-Gen. Clement Olukoju.

The Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj.-Gen. Hassan Umoru, and the Air Component Commander and Deputy Commander of the operation, AVM Isiaka Amao, took turns to speak with the President through the new innovation, the Eagle Command Post.

The command post brought pictures of Nigerian Air Force aircraft of surveillance and other missions, troops deployment in Bitta, Borno State, and some of the devastation caused by the defeated insurgents.