President Buhari is planning a complete re-engineering of the nation’s security apparatuses following his dissatisfaction with the worsening insecurity in the country.
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting of the National Security Council presided over by the president on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said in reiterating that the security agencies must rejig their strategies, the president reaffirmed his last marching orders to the nation’s security chiefs whose best effort he noted was not good enough.
Monguno revealed that since the issues involved are operational issues, the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, “is working on something” likely to give a new direction to the security agencies.
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Responding to a question on the earlier order giving to them to sit up, Monguno said: “What he said today was virtually a reaffirmation of what he said the first time. Yes, Mr President said ‘you are doing your best, as far as I’m concerned, but there’s still a lot more to be done. I’m more concerned about the promise we made to the larger Nigerian society and I am ordering an immediate re-engineering of the entire security apparatus.’ This is something that I believe will be done in a very short time, but I just want us to keep hope alive
“I know how everybody feels, I know how Nigerians feel, definitely, the President is not oblivious of the fact that securing the nation is a primary responsibility of government and I believe in his sincerity, but again, since he’s not an octopus, since he’s not a spirit, if he delegates to people, then the onus is on them to actually fulfil the legitimate expectations of the larger Nigerian society.”
On the seeming inability to definitively tackle the insecurity, he said: “Basically these are operational matters that are best dealt with by the Minister of Defense. I know that there’s something that he’s working on, which has led to this meeting being delayed slightly. This meeting was actually supposed to take place before the Sallah holiday, but I think one or two things have come up that I don’t think I can explain, but I want you to be comfortable that something is being done, following that marching order.”
The NSA said the security agencies are worried that Nigeria has moved from a drug transit country to a producing nation, saying that despite the closure of borders, drugs trafficking remains high.
He said the drug issue was one of the two he raised before the council, noting that rampant banditry, kidnapping and other crimes are fueled by illicit drugs consumption in the country.
While noting that the most common drug used in the country is Tramadol the NSA affirmed that the council is worried about the effect of illicit drugs consumption on the social fabric of the country.
He, however, stressed President Buhari’s determination to tackle the issue and restore confidence.
