The National Elders Forum (NEF) has agreed with President Muhammadu Buhari on the performance of the Armed forces in the fight against insurgency and other security challenges since 2015.

Buhari has during the Nigerian Army Trooping and Presentation of Colours Parade 2023 on Thursday, said that the fighting power of the nation’s armed forces had significantly improved in the last seven years.

The president said that at inception of his administration, the nation’s security situation was greatly challenged by the activities of violent non-state actors.

He said the situation had tremendously improved, adding that remarkable progress had been made in the fight against insurgents, militants, oil bunkerers, kidnappers and other criminal elements in the country.

According to Buhari, remarkable transformation of the military in the areas of fighting power, training, operations, manpower, remunerations and medical services, in addition to maintenance efficiency, accommodation and expansion of forces has been recorded.

Reacting to the President’s remark, the NEF, in a statement on Saturday said the military had proven that it had the capacity to defend the country in the face of daunting challenges.

The statement was signed by the President of NEF, Otunba Aremu Obatoke and Secretary, Malam Abdullahi Gambo.

They agreed that even more advanced countries had faced and continued to face security challenges, adding that Nigerian armed forces had done well looking at the available indices.

“Here in Nigeria, we have criminal elements that are surrendering in numbers because the Armed forces is not giving them breathing space.

“We may not have completely wiped them out, but we can boldly say that our country is far better than it was, especially since the present leadership of the Armed forces came onboard 2 years ago.

“We agree with a recent assessment by the Professor of Cyber Security and Information Technology Management, Ojo Ademola, who awarded the current leadership of the Armed Forces of Nigeria pass mark over their commitment to root out Boko Haram terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements from the country.

“He noted that the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, has brought in a professional touch and unique variety of administration that has proven to be a masterstroke in the war against insurgents.

“NEF therefore say that our military has done very well, we should support them and not weaken their resolve,” the Forum added. (NAN)