Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Mohammed Bello Matawalle, on Friday said the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) have achieved a lot in the fight against insurgency, banditry and other enemies of the Nigerian State since the advent of this administration.
But the Minister explained that a lot of these success stories are not in the public space due to security reasons especially in order not to expose the gallant men and women of the Armed Forces who are in the forefront of this fight to danger.
Dr. Matawalle, who spoke during the engagement with the Special Assistant to President on Policy and Coordination/Head of Central Result Delivery Coordination Unit (CRDCU), Hadiza Bala-Usman, with the Ministry of Defence when she presented the 1st–3rd Quarters 2024 Performance Assessment Report on Implementation of Presidential Priorities and Ministerial Deliverable at the Ship House, Abuja.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Defence Director of Information and Public Relations, Henshaw Ogubike, the Minister informed Bala-Usman that before now, the Nigerian airwaves was always full of news of oil theft, bunkering, piracy and all forms of kidnapping but that since they assumed office, “the country has recorded low occurrence and reduced reports of those activities just as he assured Nigerians of their resolve to do more to make our society safe for all.”
Matawalle assured Hadiza Bala Usman of early submission of achievement data to her office for their reviews.
In a similar development, the SA to President advised the Ministry of Defence to “put out more data into the public space to avoid doubts and negative feedbacks on the successes achieved by our Armed Forces in the fight against insecurity.”
She advised that “regional tour of the troubled areas could be conducted to carry out on-the-spot interviews and first hand assessment of rescued individuals whose response will serve as raw and real data to the populace and as evidence that government is not resting on its oars.”
Speaking further during the review of the Q1-Q3 Report, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Defence, Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, gave a detailed submission on the achievements of the Ministry and promised that the Ministry will do more to surpass previous quarter’s report as he poured encomium on the Chief of Defence Staff and all Service Chiefs for their consistency and tireless efforts in making Nigeria a peaceful and safe place.
Dr. Kana tasked the Directors of the Ministry not to relax in their quest to give their best to the service of our dear country.