THE Federal Government has vowed to tackle insecurity in the South-East amid rising insecurity in the region.
The minister of defence, Mohammed Badaru, said this in a statement issued on Saturday, November 23, signed by the ministry’s spokesperson, Henshaw Ogbuike.
“We are determined to end insecurity in Nigeria,” Badaru said.
He said there is a renewed determination to intensify efforts against all forms of insecurity under President Tinubu’s administration.
The minister pointed out that peace and the growth of business depend on a safe environment.
He stated that the defence ministry is still dedicated to creating a safe and tranquil atmosphere in the southeast region that supports enterprises and community growth.
According to Badaru, Tinubu’s pledge to eradicate all types of insecurity is limited to the entire country, not just a certain area.
The minister said that great strides had been achieved in that direction throughout the past 12 months.
He urged the military personnel to intensify efforts to combat the region’s insecurity.
The minister who was in Imo as part of his ongoing operational tour of the area thanked Governor Hope Uzodimma for his assistance with the military operations.
A report published by The ICIR in 2023 noted that micro businesses in the southeast states lost an average of N4.618 trillion ($10.495 billion) in one year to the sit-at-home order.
The ICIR reports that Simon Ekpa, a factional leader of the Biafra group known as IPOB Autopilots, has been enforcing the sit-at-home order in the southeastern part of the country, with what started as a peaceful exercise for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), eventually becoming a bloody affair.
Residents of the region and visitors who dared to flout the order by stepping out for business, work, or personal reasons on Mondays risk losing their lives and property.
Several lives have been lost, and property destroyed at the hands of militias widely described as “unknown gunmen” who insist on enforcing the sit-at-home.
However, Finnish authorities have arrested and detained Ekpa, alongside four others over suspected involvement in terrorism-related activities in Nigeria.
Yle reported that the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) accused Ekpa of leveraging his leadership in a Nigerian separatist group to promote violent activities in southeastern Nigeria.
A reporter with the ICIR
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