FG approves new security measures for south-east, south-south to curb insecurity

By our reporter| The federal government on Tuesday approved new measures to tackle the growing insecurity in the south-east and south-south.

The inspector-general of the police (IGP), Usman Baba who made the disclosure at the end of Tuesday’s meeting of security heads with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, said a decision was also taken not to further publicise security measures in the country.

“We have some measures which we have outlined and have been approved by the council and we will see how we can change the narrative within the quickest possible means to restore law and order and restore peace in that area, the IGP said.

“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.”

Babagana Monguno, national security adviser (NSA), said the meeting stressed the need to quickly address the nation’s security challenges in recent months.

“On my part, I briefed the council on the enablers of crime and the need to find quick responses with a view to mitigating the growing threats to society, he said.

“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 approval, through previous memos on how to get 100 million people out of poverty.

“Already, the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) has been given certain instructions on how to deal with this, but by and by, the 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 defence staff has been working with the service chiefs and the recommendations they’ve made to the Council are already being handled.”

The step comes less than a week after the IGP redeployed senior officers in the two regions as a measure to help restore peace as the security threats in the country have failed to abate, with daily attacks and deaths recorded in different states.