*Intelligence on Kuje jail break not acted on — Aregbesola
By Ochioha Two
Following spiralling insecurity in Nigeria, the National Security Council on Thursday announced plans to place a wider ban on the use of motorcycles as well as mining activities in the country.
This is part of measures planned to curb the activities of terrorists and bandits, cut off their sources of funding, and checkmate loopholes in the nation’s security architecture.
Addressing State House correspondents after the Council’s meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), Abubakar Malami, explained that the plan will be pending when investigations are concluded to establish the correlation between mining activities in some parts of the country and nefarious motorcycle operators, as regards the funding and supply of arms to terrorists.
Malami, who noted that terrorists had moved from the conventional ways of funding their activities to mining and ransom taking, disclosed that government was not unaware of the economic consequences of the proposed resolutions, particularly the motorcycle ban.
He said however, that it had become imperative in order to guarantee the nation’s security.
According to Malami: “The issues deliberated border on the logistics being used by the terrorists, Boko Haram, and bandits, among others in executing their unfortunate acts of terrorism and terrorising the country.
“It was extensively deliberated upon as to what needs to be done for the purpose of ensuring that their means of logistics are indeed adequately considered and necessary steps are taken in degrading their capacity to move around.
“So, discussions were carried out, deliberations made and sizeable resolutions in that direction were equally developed. The government will look into that possibility with particular regard to restriction on use and distribution of motorcycles which is the most conventional logistical means being deployed by terrorists.
“Again, issues of funding of the terrorism and the terrorism acts were discussed and deliberated upon and considered. As you rightly know, recently the government under the leadership of President Buhari had indeed, passed and assented to certain bills inclusive of the money laundering, prevention and prohibition Act among others.
“With the passage of that law, and assented to, the conventional means of terrorists funding and financing was substantially and drastically addressed and that led to forensic analysis of and identification of certain personalities that were in one way or the other connected with terrorism funding and financing.
“But then, innovations were brought into it, into the terrorists funding and financing inclusive of the use of mineral resources, that is mining activities, for example. And indeed, ransom which conventionally has been taken by the terrorists and then the need arises to now look into those frontiers that are being considered by the terrorists for the purpose of addressing them accordingly.
“With that in mind, the government is looking at what measures to take in terms of addressing, bridging and blocking associated sources of funding, including payment for ransom and indeed, the mining activities and the possibility or otherwise of suspending for the time being, mining activities, are being considered as well, by the government.”
He equally spoke on reaping from the on-going investigation into the jail break at Kuje Correctional Center, and that those found to have been negligent or culpable would be punished.
On his part, Minister of the Interior, Rauf
Aregbesola, said substantial efforts went into gathering of intelligence before the recent attack on Kuje Correctional Center but regretted that there was the absence of will to act on it.
Disclosing that a preliminary report of investigation on the attack had been submitted to the President, Aregbesola assured that detailed report would be made available at the end of the probe.
He said those found to have abandoned their responsibilities would be punished as required by law.
His words: “We are on to find all those whose action or inaction led to that unfortunate incidents and by then, those who have shun their responsibility will have to face the consequences of their actions.
“On intelligence, of course, we have different levels of intelligence. There is internal intelligence service, there is external intelligence service.
“I must say this with all sense of responsibility, sufficient effort and intelligence were made but unfortunately, we had some problem with the will (to act).
“I have to say that we noticed they (security agencies) did not fully conform.
“So, incapacity in terms of will (was observed) and whoever was responsible for the failure of defence and security and the breach of that institution’s facility will face the consequence.
“As of today, we are strengthening our borders to prevent any importation of arms and dangerous materials that can threaten the integrity of the nations and security of our people.
“This is not limited to immigration alone, all security forces are at alert at various levels. Do not take your mind off the fact that we have a vast territory and that whatever is happening within Nigeria must be put in the context of what’s happening in the Africa subregion.
“The federal government is not unaware of the need to strengthen the border forces to prevent aggression, or importation of contrabands, particularly arms and ammunition.”
