Military erred to set date to defeat insurgency, says expert She said it was a mistake on the part of government or the Military to set a certain date for defeating what she calls a "guerrilla war"

A US-based Professor of crisis communication, Amiso George has said giving a target for winning a war on insurgency is not the "smartest" way of approaching the war.
She said it was a mistake on the part of government or the Military to set a certain date for defeating what she calls a "guerrilla war" like the Boko Haram insurgency.
George, a visiting professor from the Texas Christian University, Texas, United States of America spoke with newsmen at the Pan Atlantic University (PAU), Lagos.
The university don also spoke on the ongoing strike by university lecturers, calling on members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government to employ mediation process in resolving the impasse.
It would be recalled that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai recently gave troops 40 days to capture Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau.
But Prof. George said setting a particular date to defeat insurgency war was an avoidance faux pas on the part of the government.
She said, "It is not an easy thing but I think one of the mistakes the government made and you can quote me on this is to say you want to defeat Boko Haram by a certain date. That was not the smartest thing to say in my opinion.
"I remember listening to the Chief of Army Staff on BBC a couple of months ago. That's not the best response. It is an issue and I think it is very important for the government to really level with people, the government needs to do its best. It is very difficult to really rout out a guerilla organization such as Boko Haram because you really never know when and where they are going to strike but I think it is important to level with the country and say this is not something we can really defeat overnight..."
On ASUU strike, she said, “All sides, the government and ASUU should come together and use a mediator to resolve their problems because the people who are suffering are the students.
"Not every parent can afford to send their children to private universities where their fees are prohibitive but parents who want to give their children affordable eduction will send them to state schools but now spending seven or eight years for a four years degree is a problem.
"They should sit down and if they can't talk to themselves, this is where a mediator comes in and I know we have all kind of expertise in our country and they should ask themselves whose interest do they have? ASUU and FG should ask themselves that question of whose interest do they serve because the students are the one suffering the impasse."