NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA
Centralised data key to tackling insecurity, economic woes – BRISIN

Centralised data key to tackling insecurity, economic woes – BRISIN

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By Angela Atabo

The Basic Registry and Information System in Nigeria (BRISIN) has been identified as a critical tool in addressing Nigeria’s persistent issues of insecurity and economic instability.

Dr Anthony Uwa, Head of BRISIN Implementation in Nigeria, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

According to him, BRISIN is an integrated data and information infrastructure designed for real-time data governance across all sectors of the economy and government.

He explained that in May 2007, the Federal Government signed a service agreement for the implementation of BRISIN, selecting the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the pilot phase.

 “However, 18 years later, the system is yet to be implemented, in spite of its numerous benefits.”

Uwa emphasised that effective governance and sustainable development were impossible without a reliable and comprehensive data infrastructure.

“You cannot run a government without data governance that guides decisions on national security, social systems, economic planning, revenue generation, and democratic development,” he said.

He added that BRISIN could support sectors such as rural development, employment, diaspora integration, migration control, and social welfare.

“Nigeria lacks a foundational system because there is no data and information infrastructure.

“You can’t solve problems like insecurity, unemployment, or economic instability without it,” Uwa stressed.

He noted that BRISIN was conceived during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration as a fundamental infrastructure to drive lasting change and attract both local and foreign investment.

He also said it would help Nigeria access international grants and funding, identify Nigerians at home and abroad, and provide reliable demographic data.

“With BRISIN in place, Nigeria would command more respect globally, operate credibly, and manage governance effectively. Unfortunately, the FCT Minister is yet to activate the pilot phase,” he added.

Uwa revealed that the Italian government, through the MATEI Programme for Africa, approved 600 million dollars for BRISIN in Nigeria.

“However, the release is pending a letter from the FCT confirming the project’s commencement and counterpart funding, still not submitted 14 months later.”

He urged FCT Minister Nyesom Wike to act swiftly, stating that implementing BRISIN in the capital would modernise the city and improve governance structures.

Uwa added that the system had the potential to generate up to N1.5 trillion annually in internally generated revenue (IGR) by effectively monitoring and controlling all economic activities within the FCT.

Also speaking, Mr Lorenzo Santangelo, Director at Dermo Impex Nigeria Ltd, the BRISIN solution providers, said the system could create up to 10 million jobs in Nigeria.

He explained that by integrating data systems across all ministries and agencies, governance would become more efficient and credible.

“When every government body has access to the same accurate data, it becomes easier to identify needs, streamline services, and eliminate duplication,” Santangelo said.

He added that BRISIN would improve national planning by tracking population movements, consumer preferences, and regional needs, informing decisions on infrastructure, imports, and public services.

“Credibility comes when citizens are properly identified from birth, with clear data on their parents and place of origin.

“This builds a foundation for proper governance and national development,” he added. (NAN)

Edited by Abiemwense Moru

Insecurity: Benue govt.seeks help to return IDPs home, secure borders

Insecurity: Benue govt.seeks help to return IDPs home, secure borders

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By Angela Atabo

Gov Hyacinth Alia of Benue has called for assistance in facilitating the return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their homes.

Alia made the call at the North-Central Regional Consultation on the Harmonisation of  the National Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) Framework in Makurdi.

The Workshop on the  theme “Towards Creating Exit Pathways out of Violence and Criminality” was organised by International Alert in collaboration with Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), through the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

“We have about 17 IDP camps in the state and we have started working to return them home.

“As we deliberate and reflect during this consultation, let us all remember that the safest shield is not the wall but trust. And the most reliable armour is not fear, but accountability and courage.

“People in some local governments have been killed, driven out, and their lands taken and occupied.

“This is our reality. There is no other way of saying it, but this is the truth. We need every resolution and we need every solution to be placed on the table for this to work,” he said.

Alia said the government was a  willing collaborator and partner of peace and would ensure at all times that peace was  the watchword throughout the state and its  borders.

“Let us walk this road together, not armed with bullets, but with bold ideas, collaborative spirit and unwavering resolve. Support me to take all the IDPs back to their ancestral land.

“Let our farmers go back to their own farmlands. Let our children have a future as we continue to work towards a one unified state, region and nation,”he said.

The governor said that although there were a lot of sentiments on the security challenges in the state, guns and land grabbing were not the answers, peace was  the target and must be achieved.

A representative of  the National Security Advisor, Mairo Abbas, Director, Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism, said the workshop was aimed at  building  a framework that mirrored a collective aspiration.

He explained that it would also  leverage  indigenous knowledge systems and strengthen  national unity.

Abbas said the workshop provided a unique opportunity to jointly explore practical and viable exit pathways for all affected groups, including women, children and others, who have been caught up in cycles of violence.

“We convene here today at a time when Nigeria as a nation is intensifying its effort  towards achieving sustainable peace, enhanced national security and inclusive development.

“What we are  here to deliberate upon is a critical pillar of our national strategy for managing post-conflict transitions, addressing the root causes of violent extremism and fostering lasting peace and stability.

“The Northern Central Region is uniquely impacted by a range of security challenges, which has been outlined here, which also includes farmers’ and headers, conflicts, communal violence, banditry and violent extremism,” he said.

Abbas urged all participants to  ensure that the national DDR framework to be developed was inclusive, context-specific, attuned to the peculiar realities  and anchored on forgiveness, reconciliation and unity.

Dr Paul Nyulaku-Bemshima, Country Director of International Alert Nigeria, said the convergence was important in the light of the violence in the North Central.

Nyulaku-Bemshima said disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, was about seeking exit pathways out of violence and criminality.

“So this range of stakeholders we have convened with the support of the Office of National Security Advisor, National Counter-Terrorism Centre, the SPRING Programme and the UK Government is aimed  at opening up platforms for conversation.

“This is to ensure that the different stakeholders, groups, actors come together to frame their peace, and  identify the drivers of violence.

“It is for them to also  recognise that, even though kinetic measures have been taken,  different communities have taken up arms against each other, different actors have attacked several communities, there is still a place for peace.

“There is still a place for finding an exit out of the dilemma that we face in the North Central.” he said.

Nyulaku-Bemshima said the event convened experts to address the issues and chart a way forward, saying a  communiqué would be issued at the end of the meeting.

Dr Ukoha Ukiwo, Team Lead, Strengthening Peace and Resilience in Nigeria (SPRING), said the SPRING Programme was  an initiative of  the UK Government intended to foster efforts at stability in Nigeria.

Ukiowo said the UK recognised the potential and possibilities of Nigeria being a stabilising force, not just in Africa but in the world as the most populous black country.

The team lead said that over the past 20 years, security challenges in the country had made different subnational entities, particularly state governments, to develop non-kinetic solutions. (NAN)

Edited by Gabriel Yough

Lakurawa, insecurity in the Sahel: Dissecting Nigeria’s challenges

Lakurawa, insecurity in the Sahel: Dissecting Nigeria’s challenges

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A News Analysis By Sumaila Ogbaje, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

It was in Oct. 3 that the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) held its inaugural International Lecture intended to serve as wakeup call on stakeholders in security sector on the need to be more proactive in the fight against insecurity in the country.

The topic of the lecture — “Insecurity in the Sahel (2008-2024): Dissecting Nigeria’s Challenges — Genesis, Impacts and Options’’–  was somewhat probing and foretelling, so much so that barely two months after the lecture, a terrorist group known as Lakurawa was identified by the military in the country.

The lecture observed that insecurity in the Sahel marked a significant step towards fostering deeper understanding of the region’s complex security challenges and how it could affect Nigeria.

NAN Managing Director Ali M. Ali believes it is about time the agency charts a course on pathways to peace and economic prosperity in Africa through such well thought lectures.

“Security is the basic; without security, a nation cannot make progress, there will be no economic and social development.

“We’ve seen it in the Northwest where bandits take front row seats, conducting their nefarious activity with impunity, without any fear of reprisals,’’ he said.

He said the lecture would to interrogate the root causes of the violence troubling the Sahel and ignite international conversations around flashpoints in the Sahel.

“We are not looking at insecurity from a local or national level; we’re taking it on a wider paradigm, a bigger scale.

“So, we also think there is a nexus between what’s happening in the Sahel and here, just like we believe that there is a nexus between corruption and insecurity,’’ he said.

Concerned citizens have, therefore, noted that the Sahel region and northern part of the country have witnessed a surge in terrorist activities with new groups emerging while existing ones struggle to expand their reach and networks.

They further observe that the region has been infested by the presence of Al-Qaeda, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin and Islamic State West Africa Province.

Undoubtedly, the emergence of a new terror group — Lakurawa — as confirmed by the Defence Headquarters, has lent credence to the NAN’s inaugural annual lecture on the need to urgently address the menace of insecurity in the Sahel region.

The lecture was conceived by NAN to contribute to the on-going discourse on regional security and as part of its efforts to interrogate the root causes of insecurity in the Sahel and explore potential solutions by bringing together experts and stakeholders.

The key takeaways from the lecture include but not limited to multi-dimensional approach to tackling insecurity.

The lecture emphasised the need to understand the underlying causes of insecurity in the Sahel and steps to strengthening regional security by international cooperation and dialogue.

Confirming the foresight of NAN in news reporting and providing solutions to the envisaged challenges, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen Edward Buba, at a recent media briefing confirmed that the new terror group –Lakurawa– emerged from the Republic of Niger and Mali axis after the coup that led to the breakdown of military cooperation between Nigeria and the Republic of Niger.

He said that the terrorists began incursion into northern parts of Sokoto State and Kebbi from the Republic of Niger.

He observed that prior to the coup; there were joint border operations with Nigerien security forces which kept the terrorist at bay.

“The terrorists took advantage of the gaps in cooperation between both countries and exploited difficult terrains to make incursions in remote areas in some north western states of the country to spread their ideology,’’ he said.

Buba said that the group was accommodated by the locals who initially thought that the group meant well for them, adding that they failed to report the movement to the military and security agencies.

He gave assurance that troops had sustained Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) to degrade the terrorists, noting that the terror group had continued to take advantage of the vast under-governed areas to hide and evade troops as well as harass the locals.

Similarly, many accounts have emerged as to how the group managed to have footings in Sokoto State and Kebbi.

But some concerned Africans believe that Lakurawa group emerged around 2020, allegedly as a breakaway faction of the Ansaru terrorist group.

The group’s leader is believed to be one Auta, also known as Auta Lakurawa, whose ideology adheres to religious extremism similar to Boko Haram and Ansaru.

Observers note that their objective is to establish a religious state in the northern part of the country, impose Sharia law and fight against perceived western influence and secularism, focusing attacks on security forces and government facilities, kidnappings for ransom, cattle rustling and raids on villages and towns.

Other accounts of their emergence notes that the group existed in Gongono Forest in Tangaza Local Government Area of Sokoto as far back as 2018 on the invitation of herdsmen in the area.

Reports also have it that security operatives, at a time, chased the terrorists out after killing their members and setting the entire forest ablaze.

An intelligence source revealed that the Lakurawa — herders turned militant group– in response to the Malian crisis, appeared along the Nigeria-Niger border in Sokoto’s Gudu and Tangaza regions, not just for cattle grazing but with arms.

It was revealed that no fewer than 200 fighters came to the country from the Republic of Niger in 2018, identified by locals as Arabic and Fulfulde-speaking herders from Mali.

The source said that the district heads of Gudu and Tangaza collaborated with the head of a local cattle breeders’ association to hire the Lakurawa group to fight local bandits.

“While initially successful in driving out bandits, the group soon began enforcing its own rules and collecting forced taxes (zakat), straining relations with locals.

“The first victim of the group when they first arrived in the area was a traditional ruler, the District head of Balle, the headquarters of Gudu Local Government Area, Magajin Garin Balle, who was beheaded by the group after a misunderstanding between the sect and his son.

“The group later had its first encounter with security agents in the densely populated forest in Gongono, where many extremists were killed after which the group’s flag was recovered.

“After the encounter with security agents, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association issued a statement to say that the group members were not terrorists as claimed but herdsmen from Mali.

“This was in spite of evidence that they had seized many communities in two local government areas of the state and forcing them to pay taxes,’’ the source said.

Irrespective of this explanation, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the African Union Chief Mediator in Sudan and speaker in the international annual lecture organised by NAN, enumerated factors fueling insecurity in the Sahel region to include weak governance and corruption.

According to him, weak governance and corruption have helped in creating opportunities for insecurity.

“Sahel region — Libya, Sudan and Mali, among other nations in the region –is so vast that there are lots of ungoverned spaces in the zone, causing an increase in the insecurity rate,’’ he noted.

The incursion of Lukarawa group into the country has made Sen. Waziri Tambuwal, the immediate past governor of Sokoto State, to believe that the present incursion “would not be the first time that the group is coming into the country’’.

Tambuwal recalled that when he was the governor of the state, the group invaded Sokoto State in 2018, but was dislodged.

“We need to nip this in the bud. It is too serious for us to take it lightly because these people are armed with sophisticated weapons. I believe they even have some international connections,’’ he noted.

The Senate, therefore, considered and adopted a motion sponsored by Sen. Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North) to the effect that the Federal Government must take stringent measures to stop the infiltration of a group of violent terrorists known as Lukarawa from entrenching themselves in some northwestern parts of Sokoto State and Kebbi.

In his lead debate, Abdullahi recalled that the group raided and displaced some communities, before it invaded Mera in Augie Local Government of Kebbi State on November 8, killing no fewer than 20 people.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to take the matter seriously to protect the citizens from insecurity.

All in all, the Acting Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Olufemi Oluyede has ordered that troops to step up action against the group immediately to flush it out.(NAN)

Edited by Kayode Olaitan

Insecurity: Kenyatta seeks strong institutions

Insecurity: Kenyatta seeks strong institutions

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By Sumaila Ogbaje

Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has emphasised the importance of strong institutions in addressing insecurity, stating that the police and military must be the only legitimate actors to avert violence.

He stated this at the inaugural lecture for Course 33 of the National Defence College Nigeria in Abuja on Monday.

Kenyatta stressed that the military and police must be capable and willing to secure citizens and their properties.

“This includes having the analytical ability to identify threats and effective communication to shape perceptions of the state’s deployment of violence.”

He cited pastoralist conflicts and militia formations as indicators that more work is needed.

To achieve national security and development, Kenyatta highlighted the need for effective administrative control.

He advised that government control should flow from national to grassroots levels.

Kenyatta said there was need for investment in human capital by creating social and economic pathways for youth to actualise themselves.

He also called for government’s respond to the demands of young people, who make up more than 70 per cent of the productive population.

Rear Adm. Olumuyiwa Olotu, commandant of NDC, noted that the college’s mission was to develop future leaders equipped with knowledge and analytical skills to navigate dynamic defence and security environments.

“Since its establishment in 1992, NDC has graduated more than 2,000 senior officers from various security agencies and strategic ministries.

“The current Course 33 comprises 100 participants, including 54 Nigerian Armed Forces officers, five Nigerian Police Force officers, and 18 personnel from Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, as well as 23 international participants from 19 countries.”(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Abiemwense Moru

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