Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, has said terrorism has reduced significantly across the country, attributing the development to sustained military operations and support from international partners.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on ARISE NEWS as President Bola Tinubu’s administration marked its third anniversary, Musa said the security situation had improved compared to previous years, even though kidnapping remains a major challenge.
“The level of terrorism across has actually drastically reduced,” Musa said.
According to him, the country is witnessing fewer terrorist incidents than in the past, with criminal activities shifting more towards kidnappings.
“Terrorism and terrorist attacks in the past, the way it used to be, is not as rampant as it used to be,” he said.
“Now we’re having the issues of kidnapping more than terrorism.”
Musa argued that the trend reflects progress in the fight against terrorism, saying, “You see that we have more kidnappings now than acts of terrorism. What it shows is that it is going down and that we need to come together to be able to address because the security forces cannot be everywhere.”
The minister said recent successes against terrorist groups were the result of coordinated operations involving Nigerian security agencies and foreign partners.
“The recent attack, killing of that deputy ISIS commander was a painstaking operation that was conducted, it started since last year. We followed and ensured that we show what we’re doing and then when we struck, we got them just rightly,” he said.
Musa also pointed to a decline in bomb attacks as evidence that terrorist networks had been weakened.
“In the past, you know, in the past, you hear almost on daily basis, you hear issues of IEDs exploding from here and there. You keep on hearing about vehicle-borne IED, body-borne IED, and all this. You don’t hear them. You hear them maybe once in a while, here and there.”
He said Nigeria was continuing to work with international partners to strengthen its counter-terrorism capabilities.
“We’re working with our partners, the Americans, the British, the French, and all of us of Nigeria that want us to succeed. They are bringing out those platforms we don’t have and we’re working,” he said.
The minister also highlighted efforts to improve local defence production, noting that Nigeria had begun developing some of its own military equipment.
“We have started producing some of these items. Our youth have started producing drones that we need.”
Despite the gains recorded, Musa acknowledged that security challenges remain and urged Nigerians not to lose hope.
“We are working, we are working tirelessly. We are getting results,” he said.
“On daily basis, we are rescuing people. We are bringing people out. We are preventing attacks. We are taking out commanders of bandits, of terrorists.”
He added, “It’s just a matter of time. I want to appeal to Nigerians. Yes, it looks difficult. It looks really, really difficult. And we understand that. But what we’re saying is that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
“We must continue to push together. And we’re going to succeed.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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