We are pushing back insecurity, says Buhari•Six more Super Tucano jets in

Nigeria will get more assistance from the United States (U.S.) in the battle against insecurity, a top Biden Administration official said yesterday.

He spoke in Abuja after a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Geofery Onyeama.

Deputy national Security Advisor Jon Finer who was accompanied to the meeting by U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard said: “Going forward, the security issues are very pretty- whether it’s terrorism or piracy – the U.S. can support.”

He added “You mentioned democracy. The President is very much looking forward to conveying the summit for democracy in December. The pillar of this summit is going to be issues relating to election, corruption.

“Nigeria is not just a partner of the U.S. but also a friend which is much appreciated. The time that we spent and the conversations we had are very constructive and the partnership over all.
“We talked about the pandemic and the delivery of vaccines and the next phase of this which is actually making sure that those vaccines are administered and get into peoples arms which is something we want to support.”

On climate change, he said the U.S “welcome Nigeria’s committments to increase its ambition when it comes to climate change and we hope that it continues.
“There are no significant issues on our mutual agenda that can be addressed without working together. So, we are committed to continue doing that,” he said.

Onyeama said the “fruitful engagement” – that bordered on cooperation on the coronavirus disease – with the U.S.

He lauded the U.S. for providing over 3.5 million Pfizer vaccines delivered to complement the Nigerian government’s response in tackling the pandemic.

Finer, later met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Also yesterday, Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed said the remaining six Super Tucano jets ordered from the U.S. arrived.
Featuring yesterday on a TVC programme, Mohammed said: “All the 12 Super Tucano fighter jets have been received. As at this morning, all the 12 were here and they have been deployed in the Northeast. We can see that the Tucano jets are actually game changer.

“Most of the successes we have recorded in recent time is because of the acquisition of the new platforms, not limited to the super Tucano.”

President Muhammadu Buhari also warned that there is no more hiding place for bandits.

He assured that his Administration would sustain the tempo of the security achievements in the campaign against criminality.

In his Maulud message to Nigerians, the President noted that the military, police and intelligence agencies’ offensives against terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements was already succeeding, describing the state of insecurity as ‘declining’.

Buhari who spoke through a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, noted that the level of successes so far achieved had been through the combination of citizens’ cooperation and a reinvigorated and effectively coordinated security architecture.

He charged the media to help in properly expressing the true situation of the current state of security in the country, reordering the narrative by depicting it as ‘declining insecurity’ and not ‘rising insecurity’.

The statement reads: “The President uses the occasion to give a snapshot of the increased activities the Armed Forces, Police Force, and intelligence agencies have embarked upon to effectively respond to the security challenges in the nation.

“He says the government fully expects and intends for these trends to continue, and calls on the media to address the tone, content, and standards of reporting into security and safety measures. Time has come to revise the prefixes ‘rising insecurity’ with ‘declining insecurity’.

“The President adds that increased cooperation and collaboration from the citizenry, coupled with reinvigorated, dynamic, and energized police, security and military leadership is helping the administration score more victories against terror, criminality, and economic sabotage. The reality of declining insecurity should replace the inaccurate narrative of rising insecurity in the country.”

Cautioning security operatives against letting down their guards, the statement quoted the President as saying: “While there is work to do, the men and women in uniform who are helping the nation to achieve this goal, desire our collective appreciation and encouragement to do even more. The whole country and its mass communications systems have a duty in this regard.”