Former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Usman Yusuf, has raised concerns about the security situation in Nigeria and the reported loss of military personnel during ongoing operations across the country.
Yusuf made the remarks during an interview on Trust TV shared on Thursday, March 12, 2026, where he discussed national security issues and the handling of information relating to military casualties.
In his comments, Yusuf referred to the leadership of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and questioned the current approach to security management: “People are dying. Under the watch of and stewardship of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and under the presence of American troops that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has outsourced our security to.”
He described the situation as troubling and called for greater scrutiny of the available data on casualties: “It is sad and the data is there that we’ve lost more soldiers since the coming of American troops than in the last five years. We must ask very difficult questions.” Yusuf also suggested that the full details regarding casualties may not be publicly disclosed: “The numbers are there. They are not giving us the full numbers.”
He contrasted the situation with the manner in which military casualties are handled in the United States: “As opposed to what’s happening in the United States. If a soldier dies, the president, the other day, the president, vice president and the secretary of war were at Dover, the airport, to receive the caskets of three fallen soldiers.”
He further noted that the soldiers referenced were not senior officers: “And these are other ranks, not officers.” Yusuf added that Nigerian military casualties often receive limited public acknowledgment: “But here officers and men have been killed. We hear from nobody. The president never talks.”
He also referred to public exchanges involving military authorities and the online platform Sahara Reporters over casualty figures: “And the military leadership, what they do is to keep arguing with Sahara reporters. No, it’s not 100. No, it’s not six. No, it’s not that….See More
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