President Muhammadu Buhari, says the recent security challenges in the north east and north central are very disturbing. He said the security agencies in the country can do better.
He spoke after he and his family observed Eid-El-Kabir prayers at the State House Abuja on Friday.
This is coming barely 24 hours after at least two bomb blasts went off within the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
Notable Nigerians and organizations such as the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, have been lamenting the escalating insecurity virtually across the country, insisting that the current security system should be rejigged.
In a statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari said while his administration inherited Boko Haram – North East and the militancy, the South South, 2015, Nigerians can testify that he and his team have done their best.
In a message to Nigerians shortly after performing the Eid prayers with his family and aides at the forecourt of the State House, Abuja, President Buhari said that while much had been achieved, security wise, from the situation he inherited in 2015, more still needed to be done.
“I wish Nigerians the best of luck. In the Eid-Kabir sermon, the Imam has said it all, we want security, prosperity and well being of all Nigerians. We want Nigerians to be very conscious of their country. What we inherited when we came in 2015 was Boko Haram in North East and the militancy in the South South. Nigerians know that we have done our best. However, what is coming out of the North West and the North Central is very disturbing,” he said.
Responding to a specific question on the performance of the Service Chiefs which recently, he said needed to get better, the President said that the Military, the Police and other security agencies are working hard.
“We are making available resources to them to even do better,” he informed, adding that “from the reports I am getting, they could do much better…they could do much better. But we are keeping them on the alert all the time to do their duties.”
On the issue of corruption, President Buhari said that all past and present cases will be fully investigated.
“This is why we put the commission (of investigation) in place. There has been abuse of trust by people trusted by the previous administration and this administration,” he said, stressing that all of such cases will be uncovered and firmly dealt with by his government.
On the specific case of the Niger Delta, the President decried the wastage of the resources earmarked for the betterment of the lives of the people of that region, lamenting that corruption had been unhelpful in that regard, especially “if you recall there is the 13 per cent derivation.”
He also warned against vandalizing oil pipelines in the oil- producing areas which had resulted in environmental pollution.
“Those who are blowing pipelines and interfering with the production of petroleum products are hurting their people more than the rest of Nigerians because majority of their people are fishermen, fisher women and farmers. Now if they pollute the land and the waters, the fish goes into the deeper sea where the people cannot go and they cannot grow anything. They are hurting their immediate communities more than any other thing,” the President further noted.