Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (retd.), has explained why terrorism, banditry, and other security challenges in the country continue to prove difficult to overcome.
Speaking during the June 12 edition of The Platform, organised by The Covenant Nation in Lagos, General Musa said the persistence of insecurity is partly linked to support criminal groups receive from some individuals within local communities.
“Banditry, insurgency, terrorism. Why does it seem so difficult to deal with it? Perhaps, we have the people that are also encouraging and supporting these things from happening because the terrorists, the bandits, survive around the people.
“There are several stories of how people have aided them in giving them food, giving them water, and giving them information, and these are the things that keep them going, and we call this the oxygen
“Who is funding them? Who are those giving them information? Who are those giving them the logistics that keep them going? It is still the people,” he asked.
According to him, contemporary security threats have become more challenging to address because criminal elements often blend into civilian populations, making it difficult for security agencies to identify and separate them.
The former Chief of Defence Staff noted that the military and other security agencies cannot successfully defeat insecurity without the cooperation of citizens, urging Nigerians to report suspicious movements and support ongoing efforts to improve security nationwide.
