The Nigeria military has said it doesn’t have enough workforce to have a huge security presence in all Nigerian schools to avoid invasion by terrorists or abduction of pupils. Defence Spokesperson, Brigadier General John Agim, during a program on  Channels TV said, “The military doesn’t have the manpower to deploy (troops) to all the schools. It is not possible. People don’t know the land mass that we have in the North East and the number of troops that are deployed in that place. The land mass is very large. It is very difficult. It is not possible.”

The Defence Spokesperson also blamed this lack of sufficient man capacity on the abduction of over 110 schoolgirls in Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe State. Explaining the role, which the military played in securing Northeast, Agim said the military wasn’t negligent as being rumoured but the troops were redeployed for other assignments few weeks before the terrorists, unfortunately, invaded the school in Dapchi.

“Where the military was deployed in Dapchi, they (the troops) were taken away. They were deployed for other assignments. So, it is possible that the Boko Haram can operate in a place for a long time without the military presence. They were withdrawn out of Dapchi for another assignment on January 10 and this attack took place on February 19,” he said.