Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has revealed plans by the federal government to speedily recruit more soldiers to tackle the worsening insecurity in the country.
Speaking while receiving northern clergymen under the aegis of the Arewa Pastors’ Forum for Peace in Abuja, Osinbajo said government was also considering how to provide more equipment and platforms for the military.
According to a statement issued by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, there was “an ongoing deliberate and comprehensive consolidation of the security situation in the country including plans to recruit more troops and officers to beef up the personnel of security agencies in order to contain the threats and security concerns in the land.”
The vice president assured the pastors that the federal government is doing everything that needs to be done.
“We are handling security well, and as you know, including military deployment in diverse fields, like the Boko Haram in the North East.
“In fact, we have to now recruit more into the army, and much faster than we ever did because we need men on the ground; resources also – to buy more arms, to buy more platforms,” he said.
Osinbajo assured that the federal government was serious about tackling security challenges, adding “at the last meeting of the National Security Council that was held on Thursday, we had discussions on how to beef up the military’s platforms. How do we beef up the numbers? How do we recruit more soldiers, both men and women into the army? How do we collaborate more with local vigilante, the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) and all that.
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“So, there is a lot going on in terms of trying to beef up security. The security situation is one that is very challenging. We are also looking at aspects of surveillance – how we can do more aerial surveillance using drones and electronic devices to improve surveillance.”
The vice president assured the clergymen that the federal government was also committed to finding lasting solutions to the perennial crisis in communities in the North and other parts of the country, including the ones bothering on religious prejudices.
He urged the group as ‘Men of God’, to also come up with ideas and give their thoughts on how to find lasting peace.
Earlier in his remark, President of the Forum, Bishop Mbayo Japhet, said the group’s visit to the Presidential Villa was to support the administration and the vice president, describing him as an apostle of peace.
