UPDATE: Buhari plans complete overhaul of security apparatuses ― NSA

President Buhari is planning a complete re-engineering of the nation’s security apparatuses following his dissatisfaction with the worsening insecurity in the country.

The National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting of the National Security Council presided over by the president on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said in reiterating that the security agencies must rejig their strategies, the president reaffirmed his last marching orders to the nation’s security chiefs whose best effort he noted was not good enough.

Monguno revealed that since the issues involved are operational issues, the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, “is working on something” likely to give a new direction to the security agencies.

Responding to a question on the earlier order giving to them to sit up, Monguno said: “What he said today was virtually a reaffirmation of what he said the first time. Yes, Mr President said ‘you are doing your best, as far as I’m concerned, but there’s still a lot more to be done. I’m more concerned about the promise we made to the larger Nigerian society and I am ordering an immediate re-engineering of the entire security apparatus.’ This is something that I believe will be done in a very short time, but I just want us to keep hope alive

“I know how everybody feels, I know how Nigerians feel, definitely, the President is not oblivious of the fact that securing the nation is a primary responsibility of government and I believe in his sincerity, but again, since he’s not an octopus, since he’s not a spirit, if he delegates to people, then the onus is on them to actually fulfil the legitimate expectations of the larger Nigerian society.”

On the seeming inability to definitively tackle the insecurity, he said: “Basically these are operational matters that are best dealt with by the Minister of Defense. I know that there’s something that he’s working on, which has led to this meeting being delayed slightly. This meeting was actually supposed to take place before the Sallah holiday, but I think one or two things have come up that I don’t think I can explain, but I want you to be comfortable that something is being done, following that marching order.”

The NSA said the security agencies are worried that Nigeria has moved from a drug transit country to a producing nation, saying that despite the closure of borders, drugs trafficking remains high.

He said the drug issue was one of the two he raised before the council, noting that rampant banditry, kidnapping and other crimes are fueled by illicit drugs consumption in the country.

While noting that the most common drug used in the country is Tramadol the NSA affirmed that the council is worried about the effect of illicit drugs consumption on the social fabric of the country.

He, however, stressed President Buhari’s determination to tackle the issue and restore confidence.

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He stated: “I presented two memos. The first had to do with drug trafficking as well as drug addiction in Nigeria and the widespread use of these substances and the dangerous impact on our social, economic situation

“Thereafter, I briefed on the security situation in the northwest and the north-central, in terms of looking at the issue of kidnapping, banditry and brandied killing of innocent people

“After I presented these two memes, the Chief of Defence Staff, army, chief, Inspector General of Police, heads of the various intelligence agencies also gave synopsis each of the current security situation and what their various organizations and agencies are doing about these situations

“But on the issues of drug trafficking and abuse of drugs, basically, what I told the council was that this has taken on a worrisome dimension

“Nigeria’s perception of the drug trafficking index has changed from the status from a transit hub to a production centre

“Between 2011 and 2019, approximately 17 manufacturing laboratories of metal and metulin substances were located by the various security agencies and destroyed. That is a large number. At the same time, we have had increasing activities of illegal cultivators of Cannabis in Nigeria

“These people basically use extremely large space of arable land to cultivate this illegal substance, employing militiamen to protect their farms and also their storage facilities

“When you look at drugs, our main concern as security operatives is the ultimate destruction to the social fabric and economy of the nation

“There is hardly any violent crime today in Nigeria that is not propelled by the use of these hard substances. And these hard substances have been coming in from all books and crannies

“What is worrisome is that the report we have received from the chairman NDLEA shows that the numbers keep increasing, despite the closure of borders we are still having to contain with the influx of these drugs

“The problem here is that the reckless use of these substances are directly linked to the insecurity we are confronted with. Unless there is a collective, concerted effort to deal with this problem, it will only result in this country going down the bottomless pit of self-destruction

“We don’t want that to happen and one of the ways of dealing with this issue is by using a whole of society approach in conjunction with the whole of government approach to achieve the whole of the nation approach

“The substances that are in use, again the problem is that dealing with such an issue as the proliferation of drugs is not as easy as it looks even for the most developed country, because it is not a one-sided affair

“You have a minimum of three parties operating at the same time, the drug peddler (the supper fly), the consumer (the junkie) and that person in the centre who has been entrusted with denying these drugs access into the country. It is important to note that if there is a compromise, then things become tedious and problematic.”

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He continued: “So, what we did was to invite the chairman of NDLEA based on his report that all security agencies are studying, the president has resolved that we must wrestle this problem

“This problem is directly linked. If you look at the criminality, the colouration of each crime, especially kidnapping, banditry and terrorism, it is not the killing of the people but the way people are killed goes to show one thing. It is extremely abnormal, inhuman and these acts can only be perpetrated by people who are out of their mind

“One thing we in the security and intelligence arm have been able to trace is that there are certain drugs of choice that have saturated the entire landscape of the country. These drugs basically are condoning, opiums, cocaine, tramadol and pertamines and of course cannabis Sativa

“The popular drug of choice is tramadol, it is easily acquired. Tramadol has been the drug of choice for terrorists, bandits and kidnappers. And if we don’t approach it, we are going to be immersed in great problem by virtue of the fact that he who resides in the town, urban or rural area must be able to collaborate with agents of government in revealing these abnormalities

“I know it has not been easy, there has been a gradual loss of confidence over the years and the president is determined to restore confidence

“So, for the issue of drugs, it is basically related to every form of violent crime in which these criminals just at the touch of a button give vent to homicidal instincts and go on a murderous rampage killing people

“The office of the national security adviser in conjunction with other security agencies will work on a blueprint in a short, medium and a long term to address this matter.”

He revealed that his second memo addressed the insecurity in the north-west and north-central, where he observed that Illegal aliens miners are working with bandits and criminals.

Monguno said to stem the problem, President Buhari has directed a rejigging of security strategy.

He added: “The second issue, of course, is also tied intrinsically to that situation of banditry in the northwest and north-central zones, where you have a lot of illegal aliens working just like what you see in the mining sector, illegal miners working with bandits and kidnappers

“Of course, there are also other issues of fully equipping the security agencies

“Finally, Mr President has also directed we must rejig our strategy both in terms of operations and intelligence to further prevent catastrophes

“We must bear in mind that we owe a duty to the people that elected this government and at the end of the day, without securing the nation all other things such as revamping the economy and fighting corruption cannot be addressed.”

The National Security Council meeting was also attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Also in attendance were the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha, and the National Security Adviser, NSA, Major General Babagana Monguno (retd).

Others were the Service Chiefs led by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.

Also included were the Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, the Director-General of National, Department of State Services, DSS, Yusuf Bichi, the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ahmed Rufa’i, and the Directorate of Military Intelligence.

Some of the Ministers who were at the meeting included the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammad Dingyadi and the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada.

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