President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday admitted the challenges of insecurity bedeviling the country, even as he hailed his government and security agencies’ response to the situation as “robust.”
In his message at the graduation of Course 29 of the National Defence College (NDC), Abuja, delivered by the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd), President Buhari said despite the rising insecurity, his government and the security agencies’ responses had been strong, determined and robust.
He added that in spite of the challenges, his regime had consolidated the peace in the Niger Delta and recovered vast territories formerly taken over by terrorists in the North East.
The President said his government was focused on taking the country out of the security challenges.
He said: “We are making continuous efforts at consolidating the progress made in improving the enabling security environment for peace and development. I commend personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, intelligence and security agencies, as well as local vigilante and community groups for their efforts at securing the nation.”
He said the government had also focused on non-kinetic actions centred on humanitarian efforts to reduce the distress of the people and improve human conditions.
According to him, some of the measures include disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation, deradicalisation programmes, political reconciliation measures and instruments of development intervention.
Buhari charged the 96 graduands to “deploy the eleven months values of knowledge, skills and aptitudes acquired in the college to improving the overall service delivery in the defence of the national security to make the country safer and secured.”
The president, therefore, renewed his faith in the nation and expressed the determination of his administration to take the country to greater heights by leveraging technological innovations which he said were evident in the profound changes in the national democratic space and policy environment.
In his remarks, the Commandant of the National Defence College, Rear Admiral Oladele Daji, who had earlier confered the prestigious award of fellow of the NDC on the graduands, appealed for presidential intervention for the speedy completion of projects at the permanent site of the college at Piwoyi, Abuja.
Rear Admiral Daji said the completion and relocation of the college to its permanent site would be the icing on the cake of the 30 years anniversary next year since the establishment of the institution.
The climax of the ceremony was the presentations of certificates and awards to the graduands by the representative of the special guest of honour, who was also led by the commandant to undertake a tour of the college museum.
The course, which commenced in September 2020, had 22 participants from the Nigerian Army, 25, from Nigerian Navy and 11 from Nigerian Air Force.
There were 24 participants from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), comprising six from Nigeria Police, three each from Department of State Service (DSS), National intelligence Agency (NIA) and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), among others.
There were also 14 international participants from 10 African countries, Niger, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Republic of Congo and Chad, as well as from allied counties of Bangladesh, Nepal and Germany.
