The minister of information and culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, stunned the Nigerians yesterday when he said the worst of insecurity in the country had ended.
He stated this at a joint media briefing with three other heads of ministries, including the ministers of defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (retd); police, Dr. Mohammed Dingyadi and interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.
He said bandits and terrorists would never “hold sway in our country” again.
The minister said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been able to reduce the incidents of insecurity, adding that there might still be cases — but not on the scale witnessed by Nigerians in the past.
“As far as the daunting security challenges we face are concerned, we can tell you that the worst is over. Never again will terrorists and bandits and their cohorts hold sway in our country,” he said.
“The security challenges we have face, as an administration, have been daunting — from terrorism to banditry to kidnapping to separatist violence to crude oil theft to armed robbery and sundry crimes.
“It’s undoubtedly the greatest challenge to the peace and security of our great nation since the civil war from 1967 to 1970. It is the kind of challenge that would have overwhelmed many nations.
“But thanks to the purposeful leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, we can say, I want to repeat, that the worst is over and peace and security are gradually returning to the land. Please don’t misunderstand or misrepresent this assertion.
“We may still witness isolated cases of security challenges here and there, but it will not be on the scale that we have witnessed in the past.”
The minister added that the media should always highlight the efforts of the security agencies in trying to keep the country safe.
While charging the media to also give as much prominence to the security agencies as is given to bandits and terrorists whenever they attack, Mohammed, however, failed to respond to a question on why it took the president’s recent directive for security agencies to rise to their responsibilities of securing citizens.
In his presentation, Magashi noted that even though the kind of insecurity confronting Nigeria was not “fair fight” as the terrorists, unlike government, have no responsibility, the success recorded across all theatres of operations in recent times were noteworthy. He regretted the murder of Sheik Muhammed Aisami.
For his part, Dingyadi, said the police had embarked on a deliberate policy to ensure maximum development of its manpower.
Also speaking, Aregbesola maintained that his ministry had fulfilled its mandate of maintaining internal security through its four agencies and contributed to economic development by facilitating entry, operations and establishment of foreigners and foreign firms to do business in Nigeria.
