President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met with service chiefs in order to overcome weather and logistic challenges hampering the ongoing campaign against Boko Haram.
The government has declared its intentions to crush the sect before the year runs out.
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Gabriel Abayomi Olonisakin and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Aliyu Ismaila, spoke with State House correspondents at the end of the closed-door meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The CDS said they briefed the President on the security situation on ground after a 60-day review.
He said: “It is a normal consultation to intimate him of the issues on ground. We briefed him on the security situation on ground after a 60-day review and we had to brief him on the challenges we have and ensure that the mandate we have is properly delivered.
“Of course, the challenges we are looking at include weather as it were and some other logistics that we feel we should have.
On the President’s response, he said: “He is very excited, very happy. As for our request, he gave the mandate.
Asked on any consideration for extension of the deadline, the CDS said: “We have not said that. The mandate is that we should clear Boko Haram from the occupied territories and ensure that we reclaim all the lost grounds. That is exactly what we are doing.”
The nation