Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, says over 30,000 insurgents and their families have surrendered to the federal government.
This is in the heat of the ongoing kinetic security measure in the Northeast.
Mustapha spoke in a keynote address delivered on his behalf by the Director of Special Service in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), David Attah, at a two-day stakeholders’ engagement on current security challenges in the Northwest.
The northwest zone comprises Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states.
The workshop themed: Enhancing the Role of Local Communities in the Security Architecture through Awakening Security Awareness and Consciousness, was organised as part of the non-kinetic approaches to “sensitise the communities on the need to collaborate with government at all levels to tackle the menace of armed banditry and other related crimes in the Northwest”.
The SGF said the Federal Government was concerned about security challenges across the country and had been working assiduously to reduce the trend to the barest minimum.
In addition, he stated that tackling insecurity is one of the three priority areas of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Some of the measures so far taken to address the security challenges in the country include an increase in budgetary allocation as well as shoring up the equipment holding of the military and other security agencies.
“Similarly, approval was granted for the recruitment of 10,000 police personnel for three consecutive years while their salaries have been upwardly reviewed to boost their morale, enhance productivity and elicit hard work.
“It is, therefore, gratifying to note that the security situation has relatively improved across all parts of the country. The insurgents in the Northeast have been decimated considerably. Over 30,000 insurgents and their families have so far surrendered,” he said.
