We must tackle Almajiri phenomenon before it becomes security threat – NSA

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration “remains fully and unreservedly committed” to achieving a safer and a more secure Nigeria.

President Buhari, who said this at the launch of National Security Strategy 2019 Document, stated that the execution of the strategy as encapsulated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) is a task for all heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government.

“Security is a bottom-to-top cooperation. Failure at any level leads to a serious lapse in overall security.

“I, therefore, call on all of you gathered here as Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies to see yourselves as stakeholders and partners in the onerous task of securing our people and to demonstrate the unity of purpose in implementing this strategy,” he said.

The president said the various security challenges confronting the country had made it necessary for the articulation of a comprehensive and coordinated response that involves all segments of society and all elements of national power.

‘‘As we continue to work towards completely ending the insurgency in the North East and lay the foundation for sustainable peace, and development in the region, we are also addressing conflicts, between farmers and herders, banditry and various forms of security challenges.

“In addition to security, economic diversification and fighting corruption, our administration’s priorities for the second term include massive improvements in education, healthcare and agriculture.

“These priorities reflect our commitment to enhance the social security of Nigerians as a means of improving their physical security,” he said.

The National Security Adviser (NSA), Major-General Babagana Monguno (Rtd), while giving an overview of the eight-chapter document, said the strategy outlines the major security concerns of the nation for which policies and strategies have been articulated and how the government plans to deal with them.

‘‘The maiden edition of the National Security Strategy was published in 2014. Since then evolving trends in the security environment have given rise to new and more complex challenges, thus necessitating a review of this National Security Strategy based on the timeline of five years stipulated for the review of this strategy,’’ he said.

The NSA said the core philosophy of the strategy is human security, adding that is a shift from the state-centric orientation to a new paradigm in which the safety and wellbeing of the individual citizens are the primary bases.

He underscored the need for all stakeholders to join hands and tackle the challenge of the Al-majiri phenomenon before it became one of the regrettable security threats.

He  said, “Now, what the strategy does is to look at our national security objectives and align these objectives with this administration’s goals in fighting corruption, giving access to improved education, taking care of the healthcare problems as well as increased productivity in the agriculture sector. But rooted in the strategy are issues that may not be visible to the naked eyes, but are issues that have tended to be malignant to cause a lot of greater problems to this society.

“Fundamentally, if we are going to take care of these problems, we need to try and safeguard the fast-growing young population of Nigeria and guess what? We need to look at issues of poverty eradication and illiteracy. The issue of illiteracy is directly linked to the issue of children not going to school, this Almajiri phenomenon, which we have been talking about, we cannot continue to push it under the carpet because what? Eventually, it will come back to bite us big time, we need to deal with this issue and it is the responsibility of all of us to try and take care of this issue without any inhibition. I will tell you one thing.

“The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in its pursuit for greater and enhanced security will not allow itself to be blackmailed or handcuffed by the disarming philosophy of compliance with certain aspects that are socio-cultural in nature which people tend to be adverse to dealing. We must grab the bull by the horn and deal with these issues.”

The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila attended the launch of the National Security Strategy roadmap at the Council Chamber.