Nigeria begs for patience on growing insecurity

Nigeria trained 22,000 police officers on counter-terrorism in 2012, the minister said.

The federal government has urged Nigerians to be patient on the worsening security situation, saying the challenges cannot be resolved overnight.

The Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade, stated this while briefing journalists on the performance review of his ministry for the year 2012, after the weekly Federal Executive Council Meeting which was chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said over 22,000 policemen were trained last year on counter-terrorism.

“Workshops were held in Israel and Italy. I attended meetings at the NIPSS on security challenges. The outcome of this was forwarded to the president,” Mr. Olubolade said.

Mr. Olubolade also pleaded for the support of the public in information gathering for the police and other security agencies.

“The police are looking for information. It will be out of place to get the information and refuse to act on it. All the security problems cannot be tackled overnight,” the minister stated.

Also speaking, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Muhammad Sada – who also briefed FEC on the performance of his ministry in 2012, said the ministry had carried out many privatization activities.

He noted that issues of regulation of the sector were discussed adding that the administration wants to down play the oil and gas sector as the sole revenue earner for the country.

Mr. Sada disclosed that the ministry accrued about N2 billion from royalties in 2012. He listed major revenue earning minerals as limestone and granite.

He noted that the major problem in the ministry was the articulation and formation of a minerals database, pointing out that this has facilitated its work on import substitution strategy, licensing of firms, follow-ups on their activities and collection of royalties.