Insecurity: All necessary platforms in place to keep schools safe –FG

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

the Federal Government, yesterday, assured that necessary platforms have been put in place to ensure security of all Nigerians, especially school children.
Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who spoke with State House Correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, reiterated that there would no longer be instances of abduction of school children.
He noted, however, that government was not unaware of possible plans by insurgents to sabotage with intents to embarrass government.
Sirika had over the weekend, in Zamfara relayed President Buhari’s assurance that the abduction of more than 300 girls from Government Girls’ Science Secondary School (GGSSS), Jangebe, would be the last of such incidents in the country.
The Aviation minister had led a high-powered Federal Government delegation to assess the development and sympathise with the government and people of the state.
But Sirika, while responding to a question on if government had taken the likely reaction by elements opposed to the success of the administration into consideration, he said President Buhari had been putting plans in place to ensure his assurance of security and safe schooling does not fail.
“It has recently rejigged the national security architecture and it’s an ongoing exercise and everything that is possible to stop this, government is putting in place. By the special grace of God, it should be the last this country will see. Yes, there may be a possibility that some people will try to embarrass government but government has the resources to continue to give the best in terms of security. We think, and we hope, but especially by the grace of God, that this will be the last (abduction of schoolkids) that we’ll see in this country.”
On what the security arrangements were to make schools safe and banish incidents of students abduction, he replied: “Well, first and foremost, like I said, government has put things in place to ensure safe schools, in partnership with the sub-nationals, in partnership with the people that are localised in those environments, including intelligence gathering, information gathering, and then supply of equipment and weapons and so on and so forth; training and retraining of security personnel. Everything that is humanly possible by any government to put in place to ensure security of lives and property is being put together to ensure this doesn’t happen. Like I said, it’s an ongoing thing and government is committed to it and will continue to do so.”
Asked what gives him the impression that government can make Nigeria safe for all, Sirika said: “I think we forget so quickly. There has been a time in this country when governance even became terribly impossible. When a section of this country was hoisting another flag. We can’t go to our churches or mosques. We can’t go to schools. We can’t go about doing our normal businesses.
“This issue of insecurity and the bombings that we are seeing started right here at the centre of Abuja. There were moments when there were security checkpoints everywhere you went. There were moments when you couldn’t go to work, we couldn’t farm. A city of 10 million people in Kano, they rode through the 10 million people and got to the Emir of Kano and shot him, an emir that reigned for 50 years.
“They bombed the Central Mosque of Kano, a thousand people died. Those are things of the past. Security challenges are things that are all over the world, in every single country; all the way to recent happenings that we’re seeing in the US and UK and everywhere. You can get mugged on the streets in the UK, you can get slaughtered also, but the important thing is, is government doing something? Yes, it is? Is government committed? Truly, it is committed. Don’t forget, the present president could be a civilian president, but he’s a true Commander-in-Chief and he has been there before and he’s doing his best. I am sure if you’ll do justice to this government you’ll say it is doing much better than it was before.”