Terrorism Has Drastically Reduced — Defence Minister Says Amid Insecurity

The Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, says terrorism has significantly reduced across Nigeria, rating the country’s overall security performance at between 65 and 70 percent.

He made this known during an interview on Friday, noting that no nation is completely free from crime and criminality.

According to him, although incidents of terrorism and kidnapping still occur, the security situation has improved considerably compared to previous years.

Musa attributed a large part of the security challenges to the erosion of family values and poor social orientation, adding that many perpetrators are driven by a desire for quick wealth rather than hard work.

He also raised concerns that some criminal acts may be politically motivated, aimed at making the government appear weak or portraying the country as ungovernable.

Despite these challenges, the defence minister maintained that the armed forces and other security agencies are making sustained efforts to tackle insecurity across the country.

He said:

“Yes, I’ll give ourselves 65 to 70 percent score. No nation is totally free from crime and criminality, but the level of terrorism across the country has actually drastically reduced.

“Now we have acts of terrorism, and terrorism, like I said, its a social vice, a failure of family values. We have seen fathers kidnapping children, children kidnapping each other, and brothers kidnapping sisters.

“It tells you that there’s something wrong with the family, and we need to also look inward to see how we can now develop those aspects again, like the issue of education. People need to understand that to make money, work very hard, don’t look for shortcuts.

“Most of these people taking part in those kidnappings and all these things are looking for shortcuts.

“And again, you can’t rule out politics, because most of these people they are kidnapping are people that don’t have anything to offer, and you’re asking for one billion naira, knowing that the individual you are kidnapping cannot offer, so what are you doing? Who are you expecting to pay that money?

“And that’s to tell you that there are some times you can look at it as acts of sabotage to make the government look weak, or to make the country look ungovernable, or whatever.

“However, the armed forces and security forces are working tirelessly to address those issues. I can tell you, Nigerians working with us, and I want to appreciate Nigerians.

“The level of support we are getting is a lot better than it used to be in the past, and we’re making more inroads.”