Mining activities associated with criminality — Minister of Defence

By Bisi LAWAL

Mining activities in the North-West especially in Zamfara State are associated with criminality.

The Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, posited on Monday while presenting a paper titled Industrialization, Energy Security, and Climate Change: Implications for National Security”.

The Minister pointed out at the ongoing Defense Week for the Senior Executive Course (SEC) 45 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, near Jos, that the armed forces are responsible for the fight against insurgency, bunkering, banditry, and kidnapping, among other security challenges currently confronting the nation.

“These suggest why the armed forces have conducted several operations and deployed special forces to all parts of the country to bring lasting peace. So, the military is doing well in curbing the insecurity in all parts of Nigeria,” he said.

The Minister, called on Nigerians to support the armed forces and other security agencies in their bid to end the security challenges in the nation.

Represented by Dr. Abubakar Kana, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, the minister said that the military had put in serious efforts and commitment toward tackling the myriad of insecurity issues in the nation.

He maintained that the armed forces were responsible for the positive results recorded in the fight against the rising spate of kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery, and oil theft, among others.

Also, Brigadier General S. O. Oloyede, who is a Director of Staff at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, while presenting a paper titled “Understanding National Security and Defense”, advocated for kinetic and non-kinetic approaches to achieving national security.

He pointed out that “Nigeria is not lacking in policy, legal, and institutional frameworks for sustainable national defense and security, considering the array of defense and security policies, laws, and acts, as well as the numerous institutions established for national defense and security.

“The absence of a strong economy and industrialization emanating from poor implementation of domestic policies to match the defense policy of force deterrence has continued to be the bane of Nigeria’s national defense and security.

“The adoption of this strategy by Nigeria since independence requires continuous development of the nation’s factors of national power.

He suggested that “efforts must be made to focus non-military instruments of power and policies on supporting the discrete goals of national strategy.

“This means consciously aligning Nigeria’s diplomacy, international trade, financial policies, and human rights policies to advance discrete national interests.

“This will require the use of soft power to promote a regional order where Nigeria’s respect on the African continent and, by extension, globally, continues to be bolstered.”

Gen. Oloyede therefore recommended that the federal government harness all the factors of national power in supporting the discrete goals of national defense policy and security strategy.

He also urged the Federal Government to adopt and intensify the peace-through-strength approach in Nigeria’s defense and security strategy. Policymakers should make capacity and flexibility the watchwords of strategic military and non-military planning in dealing with any contingency that may arise to threaten the nation.