Chairman, House committee on foreign affairs Yusuf Buba has lent his voice to the suggestion that former service chiefs, now non-career ambassadors, be deployed to the Lake Chad region.
Senate President Ahmed Lawan had made the suggestion on Tuesday after the Senate approved their nomination as ambassadors by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buba told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja that experiences gathered by the new ambassadors would be useful if they were deployed to the insurgency-troubled Lake Chad region.
He said insurgency in Nigeria’s north-east could be traced to neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger and could be effectively tackled with good intelligence gathering from there.
He said: “It was a very perfect nomination by President Buhari and I am sure that is the reason why he nominated them to be ambassadors.
“I think that should be a very important reason because insurgents always cross over to our neighbouring countries.
“If we have our former service chiefs as ambassadors in those countries. I think it will be great because of their experience in fighting insurgency over the years.
“They will contribute seriously with a lot of information and expertise in the countries where they will serve so that this insurgency, covering the Sahel region can be ended.”
The ambassadors are former chief of defence staff Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin; and the former chief of army staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai.
Others are the former chief of naval staff Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe-Ibas; and the former chief of air staff Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar, all retired.
