From Joseph Inokotong, Abuja
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has accused some Nigerians of feigning ignorance of bandits’ den and their nefarious activities and hoarding vital information from security agencies.
He said it was impossible to take such a large number of students through a long distance on open trucks and motorcycles without anyone seeing them.
He called on security agencies to cultivate deep relationship with the people in their communities so that they can trust them with vital information needed for securing the nation.
“The criminals live in our homes, offices, farms, bushes and forests. They roam our streets and engage in day-to-day activities with us. On the surface, they are just as ordinary and uniform like the rest of us.
“I will find it difficult to believe that it is possible to take such a large number of students through a reasonably long distance on open trucks and motorcycles without anyone seeing them along the way.
“It will be hard also to believe that some other Nigerians are not aware of their dens and the nefarious activities going on there as we speak.”
The minister spoke in Abuja, yesterday, at the decorating ceremony of the Deputy Controllers General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) and the Deputy Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) with their new ranks.
He called on the officers to rise to the occasion as the country is in the throes of bandits, insurgents and other criminal elements draining the nation’s resources and psychic energy.
According to him, the security agencies, NSCDC, in particular must maximise their grassroots penetration for intelligence gathering.
“We are at a point where we cannot but make a big difference”, Aregbesola charged the security officers.
The correctional service, he said, has the additional mandate of preventing the current security challenges from getting into the custodial centres and observed that “a pattern has emerged of coordinated attack on our custodial centres, putting our collective safety into jeopardy.”