Abuja, Oct 7 : Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has said the country was prepared to address the evolving and complex security threats, given the heavy investment in the military, as well as critical infrastructure.
While speaking at a military ceremony in the northwestern state of Kaduna, Buhari on Thursday added that his administration had invested heavily in infrastructure, with rail, roads, seaports, airports, and the power sector revitalised through strategic rehabilitation and reconstruction.
“The same template has been applied in tackling the challenges in the housing, water resources, and health sectors.Unsurprisingly, the first targets of attacks by the terrorists are our thriving infrastructure which was intended to make life easier for Nigerians, such as roads, railways, and power installations,” he said.
According to him, Nigerian citizens could be assured that the military would deal with all security threats in any part of the country, as they did in the northeast region that had been facing insurgency issues, Xinhua news agency reported.
Buhari charged the armed forces to protect key national infrastructure from vandals and “enemies of the state,” as well as safeguard the economic and military capability of the nation.
Reeling out some of his administration’s interventions to equip the military to tackle the security challenges in the country, he said the country had procured more than 550 naval platforms, of which 319 have been delivered as a part of the aggressive fleet recapitalisation of the Nigerian Navy.
“We have also increased the number of Nigerian air force platforms by more than 38 per cent and enhanced the serviceability rate of aircraft in the Nigerian air force inventory by over 70 per cent,” he said, adding the army had also received more than 2,000 units of various armored fighting vehicles and equipment.
Buhari said his administration “inherited a country at crossroads, with bombs going off with frightening frequency even in cities” when he took office more than seven years ago.
He added that the government has so far done well in confronting and managing the crisis, commending the military for both the kinetic and non-kinetic approaches they have adopted in tackling some of Nigeria’s security challenges.
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