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Nigeria to reopen its borders soon- Buhari
By Modupe Shodeinde
President Muhammadu Buhari during a closed door meeting with governors said the government “is looking into reopening the borders as soon as possible. ”
This was made known in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.
The President explained that the closure of the nation’s land borders was partly an attempt to control the smuggling of weapons and drugs.
“Now that the message has sunk in with our neighbours, we are looking into reopening the borders as soon as possible,” he said.
The statement stated that the President directed the governors to work more with traditional rulers and community members to improve local intelligence gathering that will aid the work of security agencies.
According to the Shehu, the President, who received presentations from the governors on security challenges facing each of the six geo-political zones, said that in the past, communities identified strange faces and passed information to constituted authority.
Speaking on security challenges in the West-African Sub-region, he said, “The sub-region is no longer safe, more so with the collapse of the former Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and the cross border movement of weapons and criminals.
“Governors must work with traditional rulers. Try and work with traditional rulers to boost intelligence gathering,”
On the issues of banditry and kidnapping reported in each of the geo-political zones, Buhari emphasised on the importance of security and the need to secure the whole country.
“We are thinking very hard on the issue of kidnapping. We will make it possible for the military to get to the bandits and kidnappers and eliminate them.’’ he said.
Buhari also assured the governors that the country’s military will continue to get the support they needed to fight criminals.
“I am not going to the public to speak about the vehicles and equipment we have ordered. What I can say is that the military received armoured cars and other equipment and they are training the trainers. More of such equipment, including military aircraft will come in,” he said.
