President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday approved new security measures specifically for the South East and South South geo-political zones of the country, acting Inspector General of Police, Mr Usman Baba, has said.
Addressing State House correspondents at the end of National Security Council meeting in Abuja, the IGP said a decision has been taken not to publicised measures to be deployed to tackle insecurity in the country for more effective results.
The IGP, who briefed alongside the National Security Adviser (NSA) Major General Babagana Monguno (retd) and Chief of Defence Staff General Lucky Irabor, said the National Security Council has agreed that the level of insecurity in the country must be reversed.
“We have some measures which we have outlined and have been approved by the Council and we’ll see how we can change the narrative within the quickest possible means to restore law and order and restore peace in that area.
“We solicit all law abiding citizens to work with us to identify and deal with the situation. That is that, I may not go into the details of how we will do that,” he said.
Also speaking, the National Security Adviser (NSA) Major General Babagana Monguno (retd) said there was the urgent need to address the security challenges in the country particularly those that have arisen in the last few months.
He said the President gave a matching order to security agencies to ideal with the emerging problems physically.
“The first two meetings were inconclusive, but today’s meeting is the final in the three meetings. Again, Mr. President’s concern at the growing trend of insecurity has been highlighted and the meeting, basically, was briefed by the National Security Adviser, the Chief of Defense Staff and the Inspector-General Police.
“I briefed the meeting on strategic issues in relation to security, while the Chief of Defense Staff briefed on operational issues, and Inspector General of Police briefed on constabulary matters. On my part, I briefed Council on the enablers of crime and the need to find quick responses with a view to mitigating the growing threats to society.
“These enablers are discussed in detail and Mr. President has already given direction on how to deal with them, specifically issues of drug abuse as propellants for crime, how to make the criminal justice system much more effective, as well as looking at issues of unemployment, which of course, the federal executive council had given an approval, through previous memos on how to get 100 million people out of poverty, that was also discussed. Then, again, the lack of an effective crime reporting system.
“Again, the President has given direction on how to make these things effective. Already, the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) has been given certain instructions on how to deal with this, but by and by Council has agreed that the level of insecurity in the country, especially in the last one month, is something that has to be addressed with the immediacy that it requires and at the operational level, of course, the Chief of Defense Staff has been working with the service chiefs and the recommendations they’ve made to the Council are already being handled,” he said.
Also speaking, the Chief of Defence Staff General Lucky Irabor said far reaching decisions have been made that would boost the operations of the security agencies.
“No doubt, far-reaching decisions were made. On our part, just as the National Security Adviser indicated, I briefed on various measures that the Armed Forces, in partnership with other security agencies, the measures we’ve taken to stem the tide of insecurity across the country.
“The council was pleased with the actions and of course, the prayers that were made, which Council has also graciously undertaken to look into. These, of course, have to do with manpower development, training and equipment issues, and thankfully, the glow on my face should, of course, give you an indication as to the graciousness of the National Security Council, in relation to the briefings that we’ve given in this regard and I believe that going forward, we shall be translating that and it will have some great impact on the security disposition across the country,” he said.
