News Analysis: Boko Haram still a hard nut to crack for Nigeria

Nigeria's fight to end the Boko Haram insurgency with billions of U.S. dollars committed is yielding results this year, but the Islamist group has proved to be a hard nut to crack.

President Muhammadu Buhari said last week Nigeria had "technically" won the war against Boko Haram.

"Boko Haram has reverted to using improvised explosive devices... Boko Haram as an organised fighting force, I assure you, that we have dealt with them," said the president.

The president said Boko Haram had been degraded compared to the near-war situation the sect subjected the country to same time last year.

The army has retaken many areas previously controlled by Boko Haram in the northern region where normalcy is returning with students going back to schools, burned houses being built, markets being reconstructed and hustling and bustling taking place.

In an interview with Xinhua, Defense Chief Gen. Gabriel Olonishakin said the ongoing operations against Boko Haram was "satisfactory" and "well on course".

"The army has made so much progress and their assessment has been fair so far. Of course, we recorded some losses and these losses are inevitable in operations," he said.

However, just in the past four days since Dec. 25, at least 70 people have been killed in attacks, including suicide blasts, carried out by Boko Haram.

And in the last six months, more than 2,000 people have been killed by the militant group as it intensified its assaults.

There are also fears the group is actually growing stronger given the scale of the recent waves of bloody attacks.

From killing and abducting more people to attacking military bases, from carrying out blasts in the Nigerian capital Abuja to spreading to neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger, the group has made strong statements it is unwavering in its goal of establishing an Islamic State.

Following its allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in March this year, Boko Haram's tactics have changed as the group has launched various social media channels to spread its propaganda for its campaign of violence, according to Adeyinka Arowolo, a security expert.

The expert said the group had become more active after it was referred to as the ISIL's West Africa Province (ISWAP) and grown stronger in its attacks.

He said since terrorism is a global issue, Nigeria needs to get support in terms of military industrial complex, weaponry and intelligence in order to eliminate Boko Haram's source of development.

"Nigeria needs a sophisticated and technological system of surveillance which will, first of all, give the government an upper hand militarily, then after having the upper hand militarily, the country can begin to address the genuine issues of socio-economic development," he said.

Due to the peculiarities of terrorism, Nigeria will continue to seek help from neighboring countries in order to overcome Boko Haram, says a recent presidency statement.

It adds Nigeria would also need the assistance of other nations and multilateral institutions to rehabilitate displaced people and rebuild areas that have been badly affected by the Boko Haram insurgency. Endit