Resolve Nigeria’s insecurity before deploying troops to Niger – Group tells Tinubu

The Ijaw National Congress (INC) on Sunday urged President Bola Tinubu to give the security challenge in the country all the necessary attention it requires.

Benjamin Okaba, INC president, in a statement on Sunday, expressed concerns over the security situation in the country, saying expectations of Nigerians were high. He said the Ijaw nation was not opposed to intervention in resolving the political logjam in the Niger Republic, but that internal security should be paramount.

”Therefore, we implore the federal government to focus its attention on the internal security of Nigeria and galvanise its security policy,” he said.

He called on the president to ensure significant differences noticeable in the lives of citizens, who have continued to live and go about their daily activities in subdued fear and anxiety.

Mr Okaba recalled that Mr Tinubu held two separate meetings with service chiefs between June and July.

He said efforts should be made to ensure a fundamental paradigm shift in the war against insurgency, banditry, and kidnap for ransom in all parts of the country.

He also called on the president to address the environmental and other challenges in the Niger Delta.

“The INC likes to point out that the Niger Delta is not spared as poverty is weaponised through environmental degradation, resource injustice, and infrastructural neglect, among others.

“The region has been reduced to a conundrum of mass anger, frustration, and hopelessness, and this is generating anger if these issues are not adequately addressed,” Mr Okaba said.

He commended the president for appointing Kayode Egbetokun as the acting IGP, who he said had an in-depth grasp of the country’s internal security issues.

(NAN)