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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, declared that as far as Libya remains unstable, illegal arms and ammunition would continue to flow in the Sahel region of the African continent.
He said this when he received outgoing Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Mohammed Ibn Chambas.
According to President Buhari, Muammar Gadaffi held a grip on power in Libya for 42 years by recruiting armed guards from different countries, who then escaped with their arms when the Libyan strongman was killed.
According to a statement by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari said: “They didn’t learn any other skill than to shoot and kill. So, they are a problem all over the Sahel countries today.
“We closed our land borders here for more than a year but arms and ammunition continued to flow illegally. As far as Libya remains unstable, so will the problem remain.
“We have to cope with the problems of development as we can’t play hop, step and jump. But we will eventually overcome those problems.”
President Buhari described Chambas, who spent many years in Nigeria in different capacities, from ECOWAS to UN, as more of a Nigerian than anything else.
The outgoing Special Representative thanked the president for personal support I received from you, and from Nigeria as a country, adding that the country would continue to play a leadership role on the continent.
On terrorism and violent extremism in the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin area, Chambas said Nigeria was playing a yeoman’s role, particularly in giving support to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF).
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has stressed the need for synergy in tackling security challenges across the country.
This is even as it said provisions of basic amenities for citizens at sub-national level will also play key role in reducing insecurity.
Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, stated this at the first quarterly meeting of Secretaries to State Governments (SSGs) for 2021 in Abuja.
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The theme for the meeting was “The Role of Secretaries to the State Governments in Strengthening Sub-National Level Security Architecture.”
Mustapha said the theme underscored the need for the security agencies to share their thoughts with the forum and thereby highlight critical areas in which they can provide the necessary support and facilitation for their akinetic strategy.
“We would all agree that in the recent past, Nigeria has been confronted with an inexplicable escalation of violence resulting in insecurity across the nation. I would not want to bother you with details of these forms of criminality but to add that it not only serves as a drain to our national resources but creates a climate of uncertainty and challenges the ability of the Nation to provide a convivial atmosphere for its citizens to go about their everyday normal businesses.
“Governments at all levels have been doing their utmost to address these challenges. However, its persistence calls for approaches that are more than the conventional and normal to involve all arms of government, all apparatus of government and most importantly those that have relationship directly with the rural communities and the citizenry.
“It is, therefore, in line with the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari, with support from all the state governors that this forum should bring to bear its coordinating and monitoring role at all levels for a holistic approach to a resolution of these problems.
“Learning from a practical experience of dealing with the issue of banditry, we have also requested one of our members to share with us so that others with similar experiences can also exchange notes and by the end of the day we leave with practical steps and strategies to curtail this menace.
“We all know that these criminal elements have turned our hitherto pristine Forest Reserves into an operational base and hide-out from which most of their activities are launched and sustained.
“Of course, we would still need our forests and other protected areas for the services they provide especially as foreign exchange earners, sources of job creation, guaranteeing availability of soil nutrients and water for food security, serving as carbon sinks for addressing climate change and providing clement environment for a healthy living,” he explained.
In his remarks, National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj. Gen Babagana Monguno,(retd), called on the SSGs to see security as everyone’s business to join force in tackling all security challenges in the country.
“We need to complement each other to put an end to security challenges in the country. The success rate in the fight against banditry, would be higher, if everyone takes it serious. It shouldn’t be left for the government alone,” he explained.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, said the Federal Government had developed alot of strategies to deal with issues of insecurity in the country, but the strategies were yet to get the maximum cooperation from the states governments.
Adamu said that the Federal government have realised that policing should come from the grassroots and there was need for the SSGs to be coordinators.
