Politics
Insecurity: Presidency Unhappy With ‘Financial Times’ Article
The presidency has described as wrong perceptions, claims contained in an article titled, “What is Nigeria’s Government For?” by David Piling published by Financial Times newspaper of UK on January 31, 2022, Leadership reports.
According to a statement by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, the caricature of a government sleepwalking into disaster was predictable from a correspondent who jets briefly in and out of Nigeria on the same British Airways flight he so criticised.
According to him, he highlighted rising banditry in the country as proof of such slumber.
Shehu stated that what he left out were the security gains made over two presidential terms.
He explained that the terror organisation Boko Haram used to administer an area the size of Belgium at inauguration and now they control no territory.
“The first comprehensive plan to deal with decades-old clashes between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers – experienced across the width of the Sahel – has been introduced: pilot ranches are reducing the competition for water and land that drove past tensions.
“Banditry grew out of such clashes. Criminal gangs took advantage of the instability, flush with guns that flooded the region following the Western-triggered implosion of Libya.
“Yet as with other challenges, it is one that the government will face down,” he stated.