When People Are Happy They Don’t Engage In Insecurity – Minister Of Defence

Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, has said insecurity flourishes when citizens are not happy and are in lack.

Mohammed Abubakar said citizens who are in want and not happy would engage in banditry and kidnapping which constitute insecurity.

The Minister of Defence said this on Tuesday while speaking on NTA Reshaping Democracy programme.

He said efforts must be made to ensure that citizens’ welfares are taken care of. He said security is all-encompassing and holistic and requires collaborative effort to address needs of the citizens.

Abubakar said this while responding to a question on what the ministry is doing to address the problems of inequality, poverty, and unemployment that are all associated with insecurity.

He said, “I can say that when I look at the global picture when you are discussing security and equipment for security, you have to also look at the national budget and the national priority.

“Security is all-encompassing, you don’t have to look at the budget of Ministry of Defence alone. You have to look at the budget of the service delivery centers, that is humanitarian affairs, education and health, because they constitute support for everlasting security.

“When citizens are happy, when citizens are free from want they don’t tend to engage in insecurity, banditry or kidnapping.”

He added that President Bola Tinubu has been supportive in supporting the Ministry of Defence directly and supporting programmes that cater to the welfare of the citizens.

“So I believe when you look holistically at the budget, the President has been generous in supporting us directly and the support he gives for the people’s welfare through empowerment, education, through road infrastructure and others because security is all-encompassing,” he added.

Abubakar said the security has continued to improve in the country. He added that local communities have been providing information to armed forces to combat insecurity across Nigeria.

He disclosed that 9,500 terrorists have been killed in North East in the last one year. He explained that 7,500 terrorists were arrested.

He added that the armed forces have recovered 4,800 arms and rescued 6,000 kidnap victims.

Abubakar said the synergy among the security agencies was responsible for the feat recorded in addressing insecurity in the country.

“For security to prove in any country, there has to be synergy. This synergy has helped us to achieve the successes that we achieved today, and it has helped us achieve deliverables we are asked to achieve.
That translated into neutralizing close to 9500 terrorists and arresting about 7,000 terrorists. We also rescued and freed about 6,000 victims of kidnapping and in the process we were able to recover 4,800 arms in the North East,” he said.