The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, has said only good governance can end insecurity in the country.
Henzodaily reports that General Musa said governments at all levels must prioritize policies that would ensure food affordability, education and social amenities for citizens.
In an interview with Arise News on Monday, the Chief of Defence Staff noted that communities where bandits operate mostly lack basic amenities.
He stressed that poverty and hunger make it easy for bandits and terrorists to recruit youths into their criminal gangs.
“For us to have a final solution (to insurgency), we must have the backing of good governance. Good governance is important, because when we get into some of these communities, a lot of them don’t even know anything about government. You go there and there are no roads, no water and no electricity and as long as we have poverty and hunger, these are tools they use to bring them into the fold and that is why they recruit so easily.
“Our local governments must work well; our governors must work well. We must have food; we must have schools so that we would remove illiteracy. ,” he said.
General Musa further emphasized the need for the country to collaborate with neighboring nations in the fight against insurgency and banditry.
This, he said, would help to reduce the proliferation of light and small arms smuggled into the country through neighboring countries. He highlighted that the military was winning the war.
“I can tell you that on a weekly basis, we are taking them out, as many as possible. But the more you do that, the access they get from these other countries into Nigeria, movements of small arms and all into Nigeria.
“We also realized that their commanders are living larger than life across the border because they are surviving in a no man’s land between Nigeria and these other neighboring countries. That is why it is important we work with these countries,” he added.