The Presidency has maintained that Nigeria is not under siege despite ongoing security challenges in parts of the country.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and
Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated this while fielding questions on Arise
Television’s Prime Time programme on Tuesday.
Onanuga argued that reports of insecurity often create the
impression that the entire country is unsafe, stressing that incidents of
violence and criminality are limited to specific locations.
According to him, many Nigerians continue to travel across
the country without encountering security threats.
He cited personal experiences of travelling by road within
the country and also referenced accounts from other Nigerians who regularly
undertake long-distance journeys.
The presidential aide specifically mentioned the Executive
Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, who, according to him,
recently informed him that he travelled by road from Abuja to Kebbi State.
Onanuga urged Nigerians not to conclude that the entire
country is under siege because of reports of attacks and kidnappings.
He said: “I travelled from Lagos to Oyo to attend a burial
ceremony. Don’t let people…the problem in Nigeria is that the media is even
creating many problems. The way they report insecurity as if the entire country
is consumed.”
When asked if can travel from Borno through Yobe and Adamawa
down to Niger state, Onanuga replied: “Some people do it. I know someone that
does it. In fact, some came to my office yesterday. The executive secretary of
the NELFUND. He told himself, I didn’t ask him. He said he drove from Abuja to
Kebbi by road.
“Don’t let people frighten you that the entire country is
under siege. It’s not so. There are security breaches.
“Any time I read about a kidnap or an attack somewhere,
sometimes I look at the time. I said, wow, it happened around 8pm, 9pm,
sometimes 1am.
“Sometimes ago, the police told people to stop traveling at
night. That was before President Bola Tinubu.”
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