Nigeria’s defence minister, Brigadier- General (rtd) Mansur Mohammed Dan-Ali yesterday assured that Boko Haram will be defeated by the December deadline given to the military by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Dan-Ali gave the assurance during a public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Appropriation to consider the request of President Muhammadu Buhari for a N465 billion supplementary budget.

The minister of Defence assured the Senate Committee that budgetary allocation to the ministry will be utilised to achieve the December deadline.

“We are going to ensure that the budgetary allocation given to us as Ministry of Defence is utilised to get the maximum eradication of insurgency in our territory.

“Insurgency is not something that can be removed within a day. All we are saying is that we will ensure that maximum security will be achieved within the time frame given to us,” Dan-Ali told the Danjuma Goje-led Senate Committee.

CBN Extends BVN registration for military

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday approved the extension of registration for the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) for the military.

CBN’s Deputy Governor Operations, Alhaji Suleiman Barau told the Senate Committee at the public hearing that the decision was to enable members of the armed forces access their salaries.

Barau said the bank had received the request of the Defence Minister in that respect.

Earlier, the Minister of Defence had pleaded with the Senate Committee to intervene and direct that BVN registration for military operatives especially in the war front be extended.

He said that the soldiers and their families were going through a hard time as they could not access their salaries due to the lapse of the deadline for BVN registration.

Dan-Ali said that the soldiers could not abandon their duty at the war front to go for the registration and they should not be further punished by denying them access to their account.

“Our soldiers in the field cannot access their money because of the BVN. Our soldiers should be given extension so that they and their family can access their salary.

“We need to appeal to the CBN governor if that can be done as it will enhance the morale of our soldiers,” he said.