Nigeria has resolved to embark on massive religious
education in the North-East to create awareness on the dangers of insurgency, a
menace that had led to the death of more than 20,000 people since 2009......
The
Minister of Interior, retired Lt.- Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau, told the visiting
UN Under – Secretary on Counter Terrorism, Vladimir Voronkov, on Tuesday in
Abuja. The minister said
that the greatest challenge of the region was ignorance of what the religion
and the law stipulated.
He said that the perpetrators of evil capitalized on it
to influence the youth in the Zone to carry out their evil motives and
ambition, thus making them to maim and kill at the slightest opportunity. The
minister said land degradation as a result of desertification in the zone made
the rural farmers a prey, as they were easily recruited into the terrorism
group, having no serious business to hold on to, especially when the dry season
set in.
He said that terrorism was a global issue deserving global attention,
and called for the cooperation of all countries in the fight to stamp it out.
He said that technological innovation was needed both to cover the ground as
well as air because of the porous nature of the borders.
He said that in
Nigeria, more efforts were being made to check the menace through the provision
of identity number on the National Identity Card. Dambazau said that biometric
capturing of migrants as well as insertion of security features on the nation’s
International passport were also part of efforts to tackle terrorism.
Voronkov
said that the purpose of the visit was to explore possible areas of
collaboration and intervention with the Nigerian Government so as to find
possible ways of addressing the threat of insurgency in the region.
He called
for constant dialogue among member-border countries, emphasizing that
inter-Agency collaboration would also accelerate the efforts toward curbing the
menace. NAN
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