Insecurity: Nigeria not under siege, only experiencing security breaches — Presidency

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.”