President Muhammadu Buhari has charged Governors to work more with traditional rulers and community to improve local intelligence gathering that will aid security agencies.
He gave the directive during a meeting with the 36 governors of the federation at the presidential Villa Abuja.
The President, who listened to presentations by a governor from each of the six geo-political zones on their specific security challenges, recalled that in the old order, communities identified new comers and passed information to constituted authority.
He said the sub-region was no longer safe, more so with the collapse of the former Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and the cross border movement of weapons and criminals.
President Muhammadu Buhari said his administration had done well in the North East and South South, adding that the South South situation was still worrisome.
He stated that he received situation reports about illegal refineries and the blowing up of pipelines.
The President adviced the governors to stop local rogues from sabotaging oil installations.
Addressing the issue of banditry and kidnapping reported in each of the geo-political zones, President Buhari said security is important and the government must secure the whole country.
He explained that the closure of the nation’s land borders was partly an attempt to control the smuggling in of weapons and drugs.
President Buhari gave assurances that the country’s military will continue to get the support they needed to fight criminals.
On the issues raised on ENDSARS protest and its hijack by hoodlums to cause mayhem and destroy private and public property, President Buhari sounded a strong warning about reoccurrence, saying that no responsible government will allow that to happen.
President Buhari noted that the foreign press coverage of the ENDSARS violence was not balanced, citing specifically the CNN and BBC, for omitting the number of policemen killed, police stations that were razed, and the prisons that were thrown open for inmates to escape
.He said violent demonstrations will no longer be allowed, adding that democracy does not mean confusion or lack of accountability.
On the eight-month long strike by Academic Staff Union of Universities, the President said lecturers had not taken into consideration the larger challenges facing the country.
According to him, Minister of Labour is working hard at it as it’s amazing how ASUU will stay out of classrooms for so long.
President Muhammadu Buhari added that there’s a need for the countries elites to understand the challenges facing the country.
BELLO WAKILI