NSA, Babagana-Monguno
The National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, yesterday said the Federal Government will proscribe the Almajiri system and other groups that have become a problem to the society.
This is even as the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mohammed Adamu, has said the security situation in the country has stabilised.
Briefing State House correspondents after the National Economic Council, NEC, meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at Presidential Villa, Abuja, the NSA said the $1 billion approved in 2017 by NEC from Excess Crude Account for security was earmarked for the military.
Though, Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, and governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, had while briefing journalists earlier this month, said the $1 billion, which even raised dust among the governors, had been expended.
However, the NSA said the $1 billion was earmarked for the military and that he was not aware whether the money had been released or spent on security.
Monguno said he briefed NEC on several issues relating to security in the country and that the council was on the verge of releasing a blueprint over the myriads of security problems.
He said: “I briefed the council on the drivers of insecurity, which are unemployment, under-employment, poverty, drugs abuse, rising population.
“I also made suggestions regarding the way forward, which include employment creation and reduction of poverty, and is the culture of impunity and looking at stabilising certain areas of the country by giving rise to affordable education.
“This is very important because, in most parts of the country, we have a lot of children roaming around without any formal education.
“As the president mentioned earlier, when he was inaugurating the National Economic Council, we need to make education compulsory and free for every child in the country because the problems we face today are rooted in the fact that a lot of people who have been denied the opportunity to get formal education end up over the years.
“There is an accumulation of a large mass of human beings who end up becoming criminals, drug addicts and so on and so forth. And they end up becoming tools to be used by elements in the wider society who have very dangerous intentions.
“Therefore, it is very important to proscribed certain groups ultimately running around under the guise of maybe getting some kind of education that is not really formal and then begin to cause a lot of problems for society.
“The group I spoke about on illiteracy is the Almajiri. Ultimately, the government will have to proscribe this Almajiri phenomenon, because we cannot continue to have street urchins, children roaming around, only for them in a couple of years or decades to become a problem to society.
“We are not saying that they are going to be contained in a manner, that you might think we want to do something that is harmful to them, no. What we want to do is to work with the state governments to enforce the policy of education for every child.
“Now, the bandits in the northwest have become major threats to national security. Of course, in recent weeks the Nigeria Police Force has made a lot of gains in dealing with these criminals.
“I also briefed the council on the activities of herdsmen/farmers. Their activities are limited to 16 states so far, but the council is working on the blueprint, it is on the verge of releasing the blueprint to solve these problems. It is a complex problem but it is about to be resolved within the council.
On his part, IGPAdamu said, in terms of general security, the situation in the country has stabilised, disclosing that NEC has approved the setting up of Security and Policing Committee, with the governors of Ekiti, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Katsina, Ogun and Borno states as members.
Other members of the committee, he said, were NSA, IGP and Chief of Defence Staff.
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