One of the uses of a drone is to map out undefined spaces or landmark and can be used as military tools in fighting insurgency.

The federal government of Nigeria has deployed drones to the nation’s borders in the north-east to combat the Boko Haram insurgency. This was revealed in a country report presented by Sani Rano, a representative of the Nigerian delegation to the ECOWAS parliament in Abuja on Friday.

Rano said the deployment of the drones was as a result of the recent multiple attacks on military formations in the north-east. He maintained that the drones were meant to survey the area in order to collect intelligence for the operations of the army.

The Federal Nigerian government has deployed drones in the fight against insurgency in the Northeast. The deployment of the drones followed an attack on the Nigerian forces in Borno by the insurgent group Boko Haram.

This attack led to the killing of 44 soldiers, the report stated. The delegation, in their report, informed the parliament that the insurgent group killed soldiers in three military bases in Borno state: Metele, Gajiram and Mainok.

The report further added that in response to the attack, the country had deployed the drones to constantly survey the area, and had also set up a multi-national joint task force to curb the menace. 

“It is worth mentioning that Nigeria has constituted the Multi-National Joint Taskforce (MNTF) made up of Chad, Benin, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria, in fighting Boko Haram.

It is a multinational formation comprising of equipped units, mostly the military aimed at containing the ravages of terrorism and armed insurgency.” The report stated.

“Presently, drones are patrolling Nigeria’s borders with Chad, Niger and Cameroon as instruments for intelligence collection.

The Nigerian government is working closely with the Cameroonian government with the aim of negotiating efforts in enabling more Cameroon Boko Haram members to surrender,” the report said.

 It said that Nigeria had partnered with other countries including the U.S. and UK, France, Germany, ECOWAS, AU and the UN which had led to the purchase of weapons including 12 Super Tucano Aircraft. On the herder’s/farmers clashes, Rano stated that it was estimated that 1,300 persons were killed in Nigeria.

 He said that apart from the loss of lives, Nigeria as a country was also losing billions of Naira on the importation of food which would have been produced locally if there were no crisis.

The implementation of drones will help secure and provide a hedge for military intelligence which in turn will help build a well-protected country.