By ALEX UANGBAOJE, Kaduna
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha has disclosed that over 30,000 bandits in the Northeast have so far surrendered together with their families following government’s
efforts to curb the rising cases of insecurity in the country.
The SGF said Nigeria has been grappling with a number of security challenges across all parts of the country, saying these challenges have resulted in loss of valuable lives and displacement of several people as well as the destruction of property worth billions of Naira.
He said the Federal Government is concerned with these challenges and has been working assiduously to reduce them to the barest minimum.
The SGF, in a Keynote address on Tuesday during a Stakeholders’ Engagement workshop on Current Security Challenges in the North West Geo-Political Zone, with the theme of “Enhancing the Role of Local Communities in the Security Architecture through Awakening Security Awareness and Consciousness”.
The theme of the Engagement according to Mustapha, who was represented by Col. Aliyu Gambo Muhamed (Rtd) is part of the non-kinetic approaches to sensitize the communities on the need to collaborate with Government at all levels in order to tackle the menace of armed banditry and other related crimes in the North West Geo-Political Zone.
He noted that the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has taken far reaching measures to tackle insecurity in the country. Some of the measures according to him include; increase in budgetary allocation as well as shoring up the equipment holding of the Military and other security agencies.
“Similarly, approval was granted for the recruitment of ten thousand (10,000) Police personnel for three (3) consecutive years while their salaries have been upwardly reviewed to boost their morale, enhance productivity and elicit hard work”
“In fact, tackling insecurity is one of the three (3) priority areas of the present administration”, said Mustapha.
He further noted that it’s gratifying to note that the security situation has relatively improved across all parts of the country, adding that the insurgents in the North East have been decimated considerably.
According to him, “Troops of Operation SHARAN DAJI, in conjunction with personnel of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other intelligence/security and para-Military agencies, have sustained onslaught against the criminal elements during which several of administration has taken far reaching measures to tackle insecurity in the country. Government thereafter employs various options including, non-kinetic measures with a view to ending insecurity”.
“Over thirty-thousand (30,000) insurgents and their families have so far surrendered. In addition, the threats of the separatists in the South East and parts of South South Geo Political Zones have reduced in traction. In the maritime domain, our waters are now calm and we no longer receive reports of daily attacks by priates”.
With the recent dimensions of security challenges including, human/child trafficking, baby factory syndrome, ritual killings and the likes, he said the sanctity of the human life has been called to question.
He expressed dismay over how the perpetrators of the evil acts live among citizens and are their relatives, hence the need for the cooperation of the communities and the whole-of-society approach to tackle insecurity.
He charged all participants at the workshop to brainstorm and come up with workable framework that would provide support to the gallant soldiers and security personnel in order to conclusively, bring the menace of armed banditry in the North West Geo-Political Zone, to an end.
“Additionally, a platform is being established for sharing credible information among the stakeholders for enhanced security. This among others, is aimed at addressing the issue of confidentiality of information and protecting volunteers of such information going forward”, he said.
In his speech, Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, who was represented by Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner, Internal Security and Home Affairs, noted that the timing of the event was apt, as a testament to his Government’s determination to roundly address the current security challenges, saying that the choice of location also reflects the strategic importance of Kaduna State to collaborative efforts against insecurity in the Northwest.
“Because of the unique nature of Kaduna State compared with many other states in the Northwest, we do not neglect such factors as social, ethnic, religious, and political diversity. These are normal and healthy but are easily manipulated to become tension lines for insecurity and eventually banditry. As part of our mandate, we have awakened the security consciousness of our citizens, making sure they realize that bandits do not care about religion or ethnicity. The insecurity we face is plain criminality. Terrorists are a threat to humanity in general and can only be defeated if we come together with adequate focus to confront them.
“We will all agree that our nation is at a critical stage of its history. We are witnessing several significant challenges, foremost amongst which is insecurity. This insecurity is in many instances linked to diversity, and in terms of diversity, Kaduna State is not just symbolic of the Northwest, but is a mini-Nigeria. It has about 10 million people, with 23 Local Government Areas and about 56 ethnic nationalities.
“The history, nature and location of Kaduna State attract a wide variety of people. This, along with the fallout from the insecurity sweeping across the region, has exposed the State to criminal activities such as armed banditry, insurgency, extremism, kidnapping, rape, drug abuse and other crimes, which have threatened peace and security. These are, unfortunately, features of most states in the Northwest.” He added.
The SGF said Nigeria has been grappling with a number of security challenges across all parts of the country, saying these challenges have resulted in loss of valuable lives and displacement of several people as well as the destruction of property worth billions of Naira.
He said the Federal Government is concerned with these challenges and has been working assiduously to reduce them to the barest minimum.
The SGF, in a Keynote address on Tuesday during a Stakeholders’ Engagement workshop on Current Security Challenges in the North West Geo-Political Zone, with the theme of “Enhancing the Role of Local Communities in the Security Architecture through Awakening Security Awareness and Consciousness”.
The theme of the Engagement according to Mustapha, who was represented by Col. Aliyu Gambo Muhamed (Rtd) is part of the non-kinetic approaches to sensitize the communities on the need to collaborate with Government at all levels in order to tackle the menace of armed banditry and other related crimes in the North West Geo-Political Zone.
He noted that the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has taken far reaching measures to tackle insecurity in the country. Some of the measures according to him include; increase in budgetary allocation as well as shoring up the equipment holding of the Military and other security agencies.
“Similarly, approval was granted for the recruitment of ten thousand (10,000) Police personnel for three (3) consecutive years while their salaries have been upwardly reviewed to boost their morale, enhance productivity and elicit hard work”
“In fact, tackling insecurity is one of the three (3) priority areas of the present administration”, said Mustapha.
He further noted that it’s gratifying to note that the security situation has relatively improved across all parts of the country, adding that the insurgents in the North East have been decimated considerably.
According to him, “Troops of Operation SHARAN DAJI, in conjunction with personnel of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other intelligence/security and para-Military agencies, have sustained onslaught against the criminal elements during which several of administration has taken far reaching measures to tackle insecurity in the country. Government thereafter employs various options including, non-kinetic measures with a view to ending insecurity”.
“Over thirty-thousand (30,000) insurgents and their families have so far surrendered. In addition, the threats of the separatists in the South East and parts of South South Geo Political Zones have reduced in traction. In the maritime domain, our waters are now calm and we no longer receive reports of daily attacks by priates”.
With the recent dimensions of security challenges including, human/child trafficking, baby factory syndrome, ritual killings and the likes, he said the sanctity of the human life has been called to question.
He expressed dismay over how the perpetrators of the evil acts live among citizens and are their relatives, hence the need for the cooperation of the communities and the whole-of-society approach to tackle insecurity.
He charged all participants at the workshop to brainstorm and come up with workable framework that would provide support to the gallant soldiers and security personnel in order to conclusively, bring the menace of armed banditry in the North West Geo-Political Zone, to an end.
“Additionally, a platform is being established for sharing credible information among the stakeholders for enhanced security. This among others, is aimed at addressing the issue of confidentiality of information and protecting volunteers of such information going forward”, he said.
In his speech, Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, who was represented by Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner, Internal Security and Home Affairs, noted that the timing of the event was apt, as a testament to his Government’s determination to roundly address the current security challenges, saying that the choice of location also reflects the strategic importance of Kaduna State to collaborative efforts against insecurity in the Northwest.
“Because of the unique nature of Kaduna State compared with many other states in the Northwest, we do not neglect such factors as social, ethnic, religious, and political diversity. These are normal and healthy but are easily manipulated to become tension lines for insecurity and eventually banditry. As part of our mandate, we have awakened the security consciousness of our citizens, making sure they realize that bandits do not care about religion or ethnicity. The insecurity we face is plain criminality. Terrorists are a threat to humanity in general and can only be defeated if we come together with adequate focus to confront them.
“We will all agree that our nation is at a critical stage of its history. We are witnessing several significant challenges, foremost amongst which is insecurity. This insecurity is in many instances linked to diversity, and in terms of diversity, Kaduna State is not just symbolic of the Northwest, but is a mini-Nigeria. It has about 10 million people, with 23 Local Government Areas and about 56 ethnic nationalities.
“The history, nature and location of Kaduna State attract a wide variety of people. This, along with the fallout from the insecurity sweeping across the region, has exposed the State to criminal activities such as armed banditry, insurgency, extremism, kidnapping, rape, drug abuse and other crimes, which have threatened peace and security. These are, unfortunately, features of most states in the Northwest.” He added.
