President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said, despite the rising insecurity and attacks by Boko Haram, the successes achieved by his government against the group has restored the pride of Nigeria.
“You will agree with me that the successes we have achieved so far have restored our pride and honor in the world over,” he said Thursday.
The president said this during his induction speech on Thursday at Eagle Square, Abuja, where he commissioned three attack helicopters.
Insecurity in Nigeria
In January alone, PREMIUM TIMES reported that data from newspaper reports and available records have shown that at least 245 people were killed across Nigeria.
Expat Insider Survey of 2019 by Internations lists Nigeria as the third most dangerous country in the world as a result of both corruption and insecurity.
The House of Representatives last week lamented on the scale of insecurity in the country.
They, alongside Nigerian senators, urged Mr Buhari to change his service chiefs in order to address the spate of killings across Nigeria. Mr Buhari has ignored the call.
The South-west governors, in concern, recently set up a regional security outfit, Amotekun, to address rising criminality and killings in the region.
A United Nations rapporteur, Agnes Callamard, in September 2019 said that Nigeria “is a pressure cooker of internal conflict” and pretending that there is no crises will be a “major crises.”
Unperturbed
The presidency, in response to the outcry of Nigerians concerning the insecurity in the nation said the security situation now “is better than it was before Mr Buhari assumed office, hence, Nigerians have reasons to be grateful.”
“We know what the situation was as at 2015 and we know what it is today, despite the reversals in security, it is still not as bad as it used to be in this country,” the president’s spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said.
Meanwhile, an elated Mr Buhari, while commissioning the new helicopters commended the Air Force’s efforts towards “internal security, peacekeeping, and humanitarian operations in places like The Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Mozambique, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Guinea Bissau, and Cameroun.”
He added that their service is a source of pride to Nigeria and has also “projected us as a reliable regional power.”
He said that he “promised to put an end to Boko Haram insurgency, kidnapping and other forms of criminalities that have bedeviled our country” during his inaugural speech as president.
“You will agree with me that the successes we have achieved so far have restored our pride and honor in the world over,” he said.
The president also appreciated Nigerians “for their belief in his administration in spite of occasional outrages, coming together as a nation, irrespective of political, religious and ethnic affiliations, in our strive to bring this menace to an end.”
He finally said the “purchase of the helicopters further demonstrates the administration’s commitment to bringing the security challenges in the country under control.”
Source: Premium Times
