Insecurity: “You Are Doing Your Best As Far As I’m Concerned” – Buhari Tells Service Chiefs

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said he is convinced the security chiefs are ‘doing their best’ to address the security challenges in the country.

The National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, disclosed this while briefing newsmen of the outcome of the National Security Council meeting held with the President at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Monguno said: “The President said to the Service Chiefs, ‘you are doing your best as far as I am concerned but there is still a lot more to be done. I am more concerned about the promise we made to the larger Nigerian society and I am ordering an immediate re-engineering of the entire security apparatus.”

The NSA said President Buhari, however, ordered the security chiefs to reorganise their strategies.

“He has also directed that we must rejig our strategies both in terms of operations and intelligence. We must rejig our strategy to prevent further catastrophe; that we must bear in mind that we owe a duty that elected his government and at the end of the day, without securing the nation, all other things like revamping the economy and fighting corruption cannot be addressed.”

Mr Monguno said the defence minister, Bashir Magashi, is currently working on a strategy that will help resolve the security challenges across the country.

“Based on the marching orders given to us by the president form the last time till now, basically, these are operational matters that are best dealt with by the Minister of Defence.

“I know there is something he is working on which has led to this meeting being delayed slightly because it was actually supposed to take place before the sallah break but I think one or two things have come up which I don’t want to disclose but I want Nigerians to be comfortable that something is being done since the last marching order,” he said.

The NSA also spoke on the use of hard drugs across Nigeria. He said there was a connection between drug use and the increase in crime rate. He said Nigeria’s security agencies shut 17 factories producing dangerous drugs between 2011 and 2019.

“This is the third National Security Council meeting we have had this year and today’s meeting focused on the problem of drug trafficking and drug addiction in Nigeria, as contained in two memos that I presented to the council,” he said.

“We considered the widespread use of these substances and their dangerous impact on our socio-economic situation. I also briefed on the security situation in the North-West and North-Central, looking at kidnapping and banditry in killing of innocent people. The Service Chiefs and Inspector General of Police also gave their various synopsis on what their outfits are doing on the matter.

“For the issue of drug trafficking and abuse of same, I told the council that this has taken a worrisome dimension because Nigeria’s perception in the drug trafficking index has changed from the status of a transit hub to a production centre,” he said.

“There is hardly any violent crime today in Nigeria that is not propelled by the use of these hard substances, which have been coming in form all nooks and crannies.

“What is worrisome is that the reports we received form the Chairman of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA shows that the numbers keep increasing and despite the closure of orders, we are still having to contend with the influx of these drugs.

“The problem here is that the reckless use of these substances is directly linked to the insecurity we are confronted with.”

KanyiDaily recalls that a few days ago, President Buhari said Nigerians know that his administration has done its best in fighting insecurity in the country.