The African Union on Saturday at the closing of its Leaders Summit announced that it would send 7,500 troops to Northern Nigeria to assist in curbing the Boko Haram menace.
This followed the revelation by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister that his country was in consultations with West African countries affected by the sect on how it could assist. He said “We will share our experiences in combating terrorism to defeat Boko Haram. We will achieve that without a doubt”.
Boko Haram have launched cross-border attacks in Chad and Cameroon however African countries have also stepped up their efforts to defeat the insurgency with Chad defeating about 120 soldiers in Cameroon recently.
On Thursday, Chad sent a warplane and troops that drove the extremists out of a north-eastern Nigeria border town, the first such act by foreign troops on Nigerian soil.
The need for help from Chad and other countries signifies that Nigeria’s once mighty army might not be the same anymore.