Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa, says that there shall be no negotiation with nor payment of ransom to terrorists in the country.
Addressing the Nigerian Senate on Wednesday in Abuja during his screening exercise, Gen. Musa, who was the former Chief of Defence Staff of the Nigerian Army, said that Nigeria’s fight against insecurity would remain ineffective until the country established a unified national database that captures every citizen and linked all security, banking and identity systems together.
General Musa said that governments at all levels should enforce a total ban on ransom payments and negotiations with terrorists, warning that such actions only empower the criminals.
“There is no negotiation with any criminal. When people pay ransoms, it buys terrorists time to regroup, re-arm and plan new attacks. Communities that negotiated still got attacked later,” he said.
He added that ransom money could be digitally monitored, insisting that Nigeria’s banking system has the capability to trace financial flows connected to crime if fully activated.
‘Kinetic efforts alone cannot win the war,” he said.
According tp Musa military operations represent only 25–30 per cent of the counter-insurgency efforts and that poverty, illiteracy, poor governance and weak local government structures continued to feed criminal activities.
He challenged state and local government administrators to take responsibility for community-level intelligence and early intervention, noting that security agencies alone could hardly shoulder the entire national burden.
Musa criticised Nigeria’s slow justice system, especially the prolonged trials for terrorism and kidnapping, warning that delays weaken morale within the armed forces.
“In some countries, terrorism cases are handled decisively. Here, cases drag for years. It discourages security forces who risk their lives to make arrests,” he said.
He recommended urgent legal reforms, including special terrorism courts, stronger penalties and accelerated hearings.
He raised alarm over renewed criminal activities across the maritime corridors linking Akwa Ibom to Cameroon, warning that sea robbery, piracy and coastal kidnappings were resurfacing.
He confirmed that Operation Delta Safe had been expanded to cover previously quiet zones now experiencing infiltration.
Musa also called for a total ban on illegal mining, which he described as a major financing stream for armed groups operating in forest belts across the country.
He revealed plans to withdraw soldiers from routine checkpoints nationwide to free forces for targeted operations inside forests and ungoverned spaces.
He emphasised that restoring safe access to farmlands remained a top priority, and described food security as a critical pillar of national stability.
“A hungry man is an angry man. Protecting farmers means protecting the nation,” local media reports quoted Musa as saying.
After the successful screening, Musa will be formally sworn in by President Tinubu before he assumes office as Nigeria’s Minister of of Defence at a time that the country is going through its worst security crisis in decades with frequent kidnapping of school children, travellers and other persons for ransom.
GIK/APA