Is Tinubu winning the war on insecurity? (2)

The New York Times and the Washington Post once reported that there was a time Boko Haram insurgents had in their arsenal, sophisticated air missiles and the  government in power at that time allegedly had to pay them to retrieve the weapons.

Nigerians tend to forget where we’re coming from.Today in this country there is peace in the   South South . There are no military campaigns there. Also, there is peace in the Southeast. The usual Monday sit-at- home is gradually fading. One of the secessionist agitators, Simon Ekpa is presently in prison as a result of the Nigerian government sending evidentiary material against him to the government of his host country, Finland. Nnamdi Kalu, leader of secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB who was nabbed in Kenya and  brought home to Nigeria to face trial is now serving a life sentence in Sokoto Correctional Centre.So, the region is now completely peaceful. The 228 police stations hitherto affected by secessionist violence have been reopened. Now, if you go to the Northwest,  the Abuja-Kaduna road has been  cleared of bandits . I took a drive with some journalists on that road without security and nothing happened to me. And there is no Shiite situation in Nigeria.The Nigerian state is not at war with the Shiites. If you look at Borno state, there is no local government in the state that is presently under control of Boko Haram control.10 years ago several communities and some local government areas in the state were under the control of Boko Haram but Today, the story has changed. What the terrorists now do is called “hit and run” attacks. These are  opportunistic attacks.They attack military formations and then run away afterwards. But we cannot forget 2016 When they attacked the Nigerian Defense Academy. They went there, they killed soldiers. And  they also attacked the Nigerian Army University in Biu.

You had 600 terrorists in motorbikes. They went to Kuje prison. They freed 879 terrorists. This was happened in this country. You had an Abuja-Kaduna train. It was bombed. These things are no longer happening. Boko Haram was on the tarmac of Kaduna airport and the  airport had to be closed and then people were conveyed from Abuja to Kaduna. So if you look at the facts, 10 years ago Nigeria was rated as the third most terrorized nation in the world. Today we are not even in the top five.

Last December, 1.2 million tourists visited Nigeria . There was not a single robbery, not one domestic incident,   nothing significant happened. Nobody was killed. In February, we had  50,000 fishermen and 500,000 spectators at Kebbi for the Argungu fishing festival. Not one person was killed. No domestic incident. Last year,  June 8th, at Ojude Oba festival in Ogun state,  we had 200,000 people from all over the world. They came there. Nobody was killed.

Yes, we have localized security issues but the thing is that Nigeria is much better than it was 10 years ago.It’s therefore wrong for anyone  to use emotion.If we can stick with facts and figures we will see that this country has improved.What was happening 10 years ago is no longer happening today. On a particular Christmas day there were multiple attacks and then the then President asked the Inspector-General of police to go to the scene but the IGP did not obey the president. The president went there and was weeping and then he came back and the same thing kept on happening and happening. We are not seeing that now. Things are getting better but they are not going to get better overnight. It’s going to get better over time. Obviously one can jump into a ditch easily but to jump out of that ditch might take you 100 attempts.When President Tinubu took over office May 29 2023 A bag of rice went down from a N100,000. I think right now it’s about N55,000.The price of  garri which is a staple in Nigeria has gone down. Food prices have gone down. It’s not right to say that food prices have not gone down.The president met inflation at 24%. Today it is at 8.89. The President met  foreign reserve at less than 30 billion.Today our net foreign reserves is at 50 billion approaching 51 billion. The President met a GDP that was, I think, slightly under 200 trillion. Right now, our GDP is about $376 trillion which has added $67 billion to the economy in two years. By the time they rebase I’m sure it’s going to be much more. In 2023, when this president took over, Nigeria was the number one importer of fuel in the whole of Africa but South Africa has taken over from us as the number one importer of oil in Africa. Right now we export oil to almost every West African country and to Spain and then to the United Kingdom.I have seen the ships leaving Nigeria. So there is progress. It is not right, It is not factually correct for anyone to say that President Tinubu has put things in the red. That is not true. This president has made significant gains. Nigeria is better today than it was.

I would say kudos to the Nigerian military and our security operatives for their work.Every day I will give them the salute.

By Reno Omokri, Nigeria’s new Ambassador to Mexico