TheCable

The federal government has approved new measures to tackle the growing insecurity in the south-east and south-south.

The measures were approved on Tuesday during President Muhammadu Buhari’s meeting with security heads at the presidential villa.

A decision was also taken not to further publicise security measures in the country, according to Usman Baba, inspector-general of the police (IGP), who briefed journalists.

The step comes less than a week after the IGP redeployed senior officers in the two regions as a measure to help restore peace.

He said: “We have some measures which we have outlined and have been approved by the council and we will see how we can change the narrative within the quickest possible means to restore law and order and restore peace in that area.

“We solicit all law-abiding citizens to work with us to identify and deal with the situation. That is that; I may not go into the details of how we will do that.”

Babagana Monguno, national security adviser (NSA), said the meeting stressed the need to quickly address the nation’s security challenges in recent months.

He said: “On my part, I briefed the council on the enablers of crime and the need to find quick responses with a view to mitigating the growing threats to society.

“These enablers are discussed in detail and Mr President has already given direction on how to deal with them, specifically issues of drug abuse as propellants for crime, how to make the criminal justice system much more effective, as well as looking at issues of unemployment, which of course, the federal executive council had given approval, through previous memos on how to get 100 million people out of poverty.

“Already, the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) has been given certain instructions on how to deal with this, but by and by, the council has agreed that the level of insecurity in the country, especially in the last one month, is something that has to be addressed with the immediacy that it requires.

“And at the operational level, of course, the chief of defence staff has been working with the service chiefs and the recommendations they’ve made to the Council are already being handled.”

The security threats in the country have failed to abate, with daily attacks and deaths recorded in different states.

In the north, residents remain at the mercy of Boko Haram insurgents and bandits while security agencies and government facilities are increasingly becoming targets of attacks by gunmen in the south.

At least four other police stations were attacked over the weekend, particularly in the southern region of the country.

There is no confirmed cause of the attacks yet, but TheCable found out that killings in the south-east tripled after the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) launched a security arm — the group denies any wrongdoing.