…promises to reopen them soon
President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, revealed the real reasons behind his administration’s decision to close the nation’s land borders.
He also promised to reopen the nation’s borders soon.
President Buhari disclosed these when he met behind closed doors with the nation’s 36 state governors on the security challenges across the country.
He explained that the closure of the nation’s land borders was part of an attempt to control the smuggling of weapons and drugs into the country.
Although state governors did not speak with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Presidency issued a statement quoting Buhari as asking the state governors to collaborate with traditional rulers and community members to improve local intelligence gathering which will assist the security agencies in performing their duty.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in the statement titled, “President Buhari charges governors to work with traditional rulers for local intelligence,” quoted Buhari as saying, “Now that the message has sunk in with our neighbours, we are looking into reopening the borders as soon as possible.”
The presidential spokesman said Buhari, who listened to presentations by a governor from each of the six geo-political zones on their specific security challenges, recalled that in the past, communities identified newcomers and passed information to the authorities.
The President said, “The sub-region is 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.
“Governors must work with traditional rulers. Try and work with traditional rulers to boost intelligence gathering.”
Shehu also said while giving an overview of the security situation in each of the zones, President Buhari said his administration had done well in the North East and South-South, adding that the South-South situation was still worrisome.
“Every day I get situation reports about illegal refineries and the blowing up of pipelines. You must stop local rogues from sabotaging oil installations,” the President reportedly told the governors.
While addressing the issues of banditry and kidnapping reported in each of the geo-political zones, Buhari said “security is important and we must secure the whole country. We are thinking very hard on the issue of kidnapping. We will make it possible for the military to get to the bandits and kidnappers and eliminate them.’’
The President also assured the governors that the country’s military will continue to get the necessary support needed to fight criminals.
“I am not going to the public to speak about the vehicles and equipment we have ordered. What I can say is that the military received armoured cars and other equipment and they are training the trainers. More of such equipment, including military aircraft, will come in,” Buhari said.
