THE Federal Government said it would embark on massive religious education in the North-East to create awareness on the dangers and consequences of insurgency as a way of curbing the menace.

The Minister of Interior, retired Lt.- Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau,said this in a statement issued by the Deputy Director of Press and Public Relations of the Ministry, Mr Mohammed Manga, on Tuesday in Abuja.

Manga said that Dambazau made the declaration when the UN Under – Secretary on Counter Terrorism, Vladimir Voronkov, visited the minister.

The statement quoted the Minister as saying that the greatest challenge of the region was ignorance of what the religion and the law stipulated.

He said that the perpetrators of evil capitalised on it to influence the youth in the Zone to carry out their evil motives and ambition, thus making them to maim and kill at the slightest opportunity.

The minister said land degradation as a result of desertification in the zone made the rural farmers a prey, as they were easily recruited into the terrorism group, having no serious business to hold on to, especially when the dry season set in.

He said that terrorism was a global issue deserving global attention, and called for the cooperation of all countries in the fight to stamp it out.

He said that technological innovation was needed both to cover the ground as well as air because of the porous nature of the borders.

He said that in Nigeria, more efforts were being made to check the menace through the provision of identity number on the National Identity Card.

Dambazau said that biometric capturing of migrants as well as insertion of security features on the nation’s International passport were also part of efforts to tackle terrorism.

Voronkov said that the purpose of the visit was to explore possible areas of collaboration and intervention with the Nigerian Government so as to find possible ways of addressing the threat of insurgency in the region.

He called for constant dialogue among member-border countries, emphasising that inter-Agency collaboration would also accelerate the efforts toward curbing the menace.(NAN)

– Jul. 25, 2018 @ 09:25 GMT |

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