The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has admitted that bad road networks and difficult terrains are limiting the military’s ability to respond swiftly to terror and bandit attacks across Nigeria.

General Musa, who addressed the state of insecurity on Channels Television’s political programme Politics Today, said many Nigerians often expect immediate intervention from members of the Armed Forces without understanding the logistical challenges involved.

“A lot of people think (members of) the military are magicians; we are not, we are humans just like anybody. Most times, in these areas where attacks occur, there are either no networks or the roads are very bad.

“By the time the information reaches you, the terrorists or bandits already know—they strike quickly, and within five minutes they have disappeared because they have easier mobility to move out as fast as possible,” he said on Thursday.

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The defence chief explained that in the North-East, the threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) makes movement particularly slow.

“A distance of 10km requires someone with a hand-held scanner to walk ahead, sweeping for IEDs. If you speed up and hit one, everybody in that vehicle is dead. So you have to balance responding quickly with staying alive to do your work,” he noted.

General Musa added that some terrains remain “absolutely impassable” for military vehicles, making it more difficult to reach volatile areas on time.

According to him, these realities contribute to delays that many citizens may not fully appreciate.