Nigeria’s new Minister of Defence, retired General Christopher Musa, says his strategy for tackling insecurity will begin with withdrawing soldiers from road checkpoints and redeploying them into the bush to directly confront terrorists. Police officers and NSCDC personnel will take over checkpoint duties, Peak Newspaper reports.
Speaking during his Senate screening on Wednesday, Musa said independent patrol teams will also be introduced to strengthen discipline across military formations. He explained that shifting soldiers from checkpoints to active field operations will help restore farming activities, as improved security in rural areas will allow farmers to return to their land.
The minister-designate also highlighted plans to strengthen intelligence gathering through a unified national database for all citizens. He said such a system would make it easier to track criminals across states and support national planning. Musa noted that developed countries succeed in security management because of centralised data systems.
On kidnapping, he vowed to end ransom payments, saying financial trails can be traced through the banking system. He stressed that linking every citizen’s data to a single identification number would make it easier to monitor suspicious transactions.
Musa also pointed to rising maritime security threats such as piracy, sea robbery, and cross-border crimes between Akwa Ibom and Cameroon. He said Operation Delta Safe has already been expanded to address these issues.
The defence minister-designate rejected negotiations with criminals and called for a total ban on illegal mining and other activities that fuel insecurity. He said collaboration among security agencies will be central to his approach.
