The Federal Government is considering the ban of motorcycles, locally called Okada, and mining activities nationwide in order to curb terrorist activities.
According to Channels TV, the checkmate move was deliberated during Thursday’s National Security Council as part of its strategy to cut off their sources of funding.
The meeting was presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari(retd) at the State House in Abuja.
Addressing state house correspondents after the meeting chaired by the President, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami stated that investigations are still ongoing especially to establish the correlation between mining and motorcycles which they suspect provide funding for the supply of arms to the terrorists.
Malami who noted that terrorists had moved from the conventional ways of funding their activities to mining and ransom taking, disclosed the government was not unaware of the economic consequences of the proposed resolutions, particularly the motorcycle ban but it has become imperative in order to guarantee the nation’s security.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Interior, Aregbesola, speaking on the attack on Kuje prisons detailed that despite the extensive intelligence gathered before the onslaught, the attacks succeeded due to “there was no will to act.”
He also revealed that President Buhari had received a report on the preliminary investigation of the Kuje attack and officers who have been found to renege on their responsibilities would be punished.
Terrorist groups, in particular in Nigeria, are increasingly interested in controlling areas of production of gold
The opportunistic nature of these activities ties strongly to the fact that gold is often the favoured mineral of the terrorist groups as many of these groups use this to secure a source of funding for future operations.
