President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, gave a more instructive reason why his administration was taking the issue of security seriously, explaining that a secure Nigeria means a secure Sahel region, and offers invaluable benefits to the country’s neighbours.
Tinubu flaunted his record in the area of security for the umpteenth time, saying fixing Nigeria would also help the country’s neighbours facing similar challenges and difficulties.
He spoke in Abuja at the first News Agency of Nigeria Annual International Lecture. The lecture was themed, “Insecurity in the Sahel (2008-2024): Dissecting Nigeria’s Challenges – Genesis, Impacts and Options.”
The president, who was represented by National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, was miffed by the multidimensional security threats confronting the country.
But Tinubu declared to terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, and other criminal elements making life unbearable for citizens that enough was enough.
He said the country’s security forces had destroyed over 300 terrorist commanders in the last one year.
Former military Head of State and chairman of the occasion, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, said Nigeria’s security challenges could not be divorced from the regional heritage, stressing that the Sahel has become a huge killing field.
In his goodwill message, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, traced the regional instability and turmoil to both local and foreign factors.
At the same time, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, asserted the federal government’s commitment to tackling insecurity in the country through improved investment in equipment, manpower, and intelligence gathering.
Tinubu stated that for 15 years Nigeria had gone through hell in the hands of anti-social elements, who had continued to interfere with the livelihoods of citizens.
He said regarding the criminal elements, “They have continued to interfere where we live our lives, interfere with our commerce, interfere with our education, interfere with our health system, interfere with our transportation and so on.
“And we just sit down and stand and allow them. Enough is enough. It has to stop. It will stop. In the last one year, no fewer than 300 terrorists’ commanders were killed. This is just a very conservative statistic.”
The president said his administration in the last one year had also put in place policies and programmes to achieve improved security. He disclosed six key security objectives developed by his government to curtail insecurity.
They included strengthening institutions and promoting accountability to address the root causes of insecurity as well as investing in job creation, infrastructure development, social services to reduce poverty and inequality.
According to him, “We have developed both kinetic and non-kinetic strategies in eliminating the threats of Boko Haram cowards, banditry, kidnapping for ransom and violent extremists.
“A secure Nigeria is a secure Sahel region because of our number, because of our size, because of our strategic position, and where we are. We are fixing Nigeria, and, you see, it is going to translate into the other parts of our neighbours, who are, indeed, facing challenges and difficulties.
“This lecture organised by the News Agency of Nigeria is, therefore, a worthy contribution to the ongoing debate to the body of knowledge on the nation’s security architecture and what prognosis to make going forward.”
On his part, Abubakar said Nigeria’s security challenges could not be divorced from the regional legacy in the Sahel, a vast landmass encompassing the troubled countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Cameroon.
He stated that public discourse on the debilitating challenges of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, malignancy, and violence, among others, would go a long way in providing solutions aimed at boosting the country’s security architecture.
Abubakar stated, “In 2020, a whopping 4,660 people were killed in this region, while another 2,600 civilians lost their lives in banditry attacks in 2021.
“Today, this region is still one huge killing field, in spite of the best efforts of successive governments there. But who are the non-state actors at the heart of this ring of violence?
“How is it impacting on Nigeria? How do we as a nation contend with this presence and clear danger? What prognosis can we make going forward?”
Musa said the Sahel region had become synonymous with instability, violence, and insecurity. He averred that from the rise of insurgent groups, like Boko Haram and ISWAP, to the spread of violent extremism, human trafficking, and illegal arms proliferation, the region had witnessed unprecedented turmoil.
Stating that insecurity did not emerge in a vacuum, the CDS said its roots could be traced to a combination of local and global factors, including poor governance, economic marginalisation, climate change, ethnic tensions, and the spillover effects of conflicts in North Africa and the broader Middle East.
Idris said the NAN lecture was an invaluable opportunity to delve deeply into the root causes of the violence that had ravaged the Sahel region, examining its impact on Nigeria’s territorial integrity, and exploring the options available to policy strategists based on Nigeria’s security architecture.
The minister acknowledged that the country’s porous borders with some countries in the Sahel, which had become a vortex of instability, violence, terrorism, organised crime, drug trafficking, smuggling of weapons and violent extremism was having a spillover effect on Nigeria.
Idris stated, “Nigeria shares a long and porous border with several Sahelian countries caught up in conflict, making us vulnerable to the spillover effects of the conflict. This not only threatens our security but also challenges our capacity to maintain effective control over our borders.
“Several scholars and experts had earlier attributed these challenges to socioeconomic marginalisation, weak governance structures, environmental degradation and climate change, transnational organised crime, and illegal trafficking in arms, among others, but the spillover effect of these conflicts is taking its toll on our economy, internal security and the socio-economic well-being of our people.”
He said the federal government was committed to addressing the underlying issues both domestically and in collaboration with international partners.
The minister stressed that the violence in the Sahel was not an isolated issue, saying no country can tackle it alone.
He said Nigeria had stepped up engagement with its neighbours and other regional and international partners, strengthening joint military operations, such as the Multinational Joint Task Force, and also supporting initiatives that aim to stabilise the Sahel.
Idris added, “On the home front, security has remained a top priority in President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, and through investment in equipment, manpower, acquisition of more fighting platforms, and intelligence gathering, we are winning the war against insecurity.”
He said the challenges would require collaboration among government agencies, international partners, and security experts in order to safeguard Nigeria’s territorial integrity and contribute to lasting peace and stability in the Sahel region.
Guest speaker at the occasion, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, stated that although Boko Haram had been degraded and was on a retreat, the group constituted a significant threat, as it still maintained financing and supply networks, including links with other extremist groups.
Chambas, who is Chairman of African Union High Level Panel on Sudan, urged the Nigerian government to cut off the group’s financing and supply chain network, including the source of the supply of the motorcycles deployed by insurgents to launch attacks on communities and armed forces.
Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, said environmental, political and security challenges were affecting the prosperity and peace of the Sahel region.
The sultan, who was represented by the Emir of Gumi, Justice Lawal Hassan (rtd), stated that the vast Sahel region was blessed with abundant human resources, offering tremendous potential for rapid economic growth.
He said, “With its abundant mineral resources like lithium, cobalt and uranium, among many others, the Sahel could be described as the richest part of the globe.
“It is expected to be populated by 1.5 billion people by the year 2050 and has one of the largest, youngest populations in the world. Although it has abundant human and natural resources that offer tremendous potential for rapid economic growth.
“There are deep-rooted challenges – environmental, political and security, that are affecting the prosperity and peace of the Sahel.”
The sultan called on the United Nations to address some of the challenges by coming up with a unique support plan targeting 10 countries to scale up efforts to accelerate prosperity and sustainable peace in the region.
The 10 countries, according to him, are Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Gambia, Haiti, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal.
