The Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru on Thursday declared that the administration of President Bola Tinunubu has achieved great feats towards the improvement of national security and defence of the National territorial integrity of the country within the last year.
The Minister stated this in Abuja while speaking during a sectoral ministerial briefing to update Nigerians on the activities and performance of his ministry in the last one year.
He pointed out that in the period under review, no fewer than 9,300 adversaries ranging from bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and other criminals have been neutralized by the Troops of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security Agencies in the country.
He added that at least 1,437 suspected criminals among the aforementioned groups had been arrested, adding that 363 were killed last year by the military in its efforts to boost oil production in the country.
Badaru explained that the feat was achieved sequel to the improved synergy among the three services of the armed forces including the Navy, Army and Air Force as well as other sister security agencies.
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According to him, the service chiefs have been working closely against what was obtained in the past, stressing that this has increased their productivity and translated into laudable achievements in the last year President Bola Tinubu took over.
“The Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, and the Chief of Air Staff are working together as against what it used to be. That has led to productivity and efficiency in their operations.
“In addition to this, we have close collaboration with the office of the National Security Adviser, the police, NSCDC, and all other security agencies,” Badaru told journalists and other attendees at the briefing.
The Minister revealed that over 4,000 assorted weapons were recovered from the criminal gangs, adding that as a result of the ongoing operations against oil theft, “most of the illegal refineries are down.”
According to him, “This (the synergy) has translated to tremendous progress in the last year. Because of the synergy, we were able to neutralise more than 9,300 bandits and insurgents; about 7,000 were arrested while we rescued 4641 kidnapped victims in just one year.
“We have also recovered 4,882 assorted weapons and 83,900 assorted ammunition in just one year. Among those that we naturalised are bandits that you hear. We have neutralised not less than 20 bandit leaders that command armies of insurgents and terrorists in just one year.”
He pointed out that the administration had tremendously improved military operations with sophisticated and modern equipment to combat the ranging insecurity in the county.
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE