President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the nation’s security agencies to evolve new strategies in the fight against insecurity in some parts of the country.
The National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents on the outcome of the National Security Council meeting, presided over by the President at the State House, Abuja, on Tuesday.
Mongono noted that the president was not unaware of the fact that many Nigerians have lost confidence in the security systems due to the level of insecurity in country, but assured that he (president) was determined to change all that.
He stated that the President had ordered the re-engineering of the nation’s security apparatus in order to arrest the frightening insecurity in the country.
He said further: “Mr President has also directed that we must rejig our strategy that is both in terms of operation and intelligence, to prevent further catastrophe.
“We must bear in mind that we owe a duty to the people that elected his government, our government and at the end of the day without securing the nation all other things cannot be addressed such as revamping the economy and also fighting corruption.
“I know it has not been easy, there has been a gradual loss of confidence over the years and the president is determined to restore confidence.
“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.
“The office of the National Security Adviser, in conjunction with other security agencies, will work on a blueprint in a short, medium and a long term to address this matter,” Monguno said.
The NSA revealed that his office presented a memo to the Security Council on the danger of drug abuse in the society as well as the need to urgently address the problem.
He said criminals had resorted to the use of illegal substances and dangerous drugs like Tramadol to unleash violence on innocent citizens in the society.
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His words: “I presented two memos. The first had to do with drug trafficking as well as drug addiction in Nigeria, and the widespread use of these substances and the dangerous impact on our social, economic situation.
“Basically, what I told council was that this has taken on a worrisome dimension. Nigeria’s perception on the drug trafficking index has changed from the status of a transit hub to a production centre.
“Between 2011 and 2019, approximately 17 manufacturing laboratories of dangerous substances were located by the various security agencies and destroyed. That is a large number.
“At the same we have had increasing activities of illegal cultivators of Cannabis in Nigeria.
“These people basically use extremely large space of arable land to cultivate this illegal substance, employing militia men to protect their farms and also their storage facilities.
“When you look at drugs, our main concern as security operatives is the ultimate destruction to the social fabric and economy of the nation.
“There is hardly any violent crime today in Nigeria that is not propelled by the use of these hard substances. And these hard substances have been coming in from all nooks and crannies.’’
Monguno expressed the belief that the reckless use of these dangerous substances had direct link to the high level of insecurity across the country.
He, therefore, stressed the need for a collective and concerted effort to deal with the menace of dangerous drugs in circulation to safeguard the country from the bottomless pit of self-destruction.
