The Federal Government has resolved to partner the Chinese Government in addressing security challenges facing the country, Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Mohammad Dingyadi, has said.

The minister spoke when he received the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Cui Jianchun.

He said the entire world was aware of the current security challenges in Nigeria, but stressed the need for collaboration to address them.

He listed those challenges as terrorism and banditry in the North East, North West and North Central with secessionist movement, kidnapping and other criminal activities in the South East.

According to him, Nigeria is not the only country facing these problems in Africa as its neighbouring countries also share in these problems.

He said with the support of the international community those problems would be solved.

Dingyadi noted that the issue of security challenges could not be separated from poverty and unemployment.

He added that the Federal Government was intensifying efforts to address them through its poverty alleviation programmes as it had created opportunities for youths in the various sectors of the economy to curb a drift to criminal activities.

The minister said steps were being taken to boost the morale of security personnel and motivate them to ensure professionalism in the discharge of their duties.

He said the process to reactivate the CCTV project under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) through the selection of concessioneer among the private organisations that bided for the project had begun.

Dingyadi said that the country would work closely with the international community to promote infrastructure, security and investment in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

According to him, the idea is to create more employment opportunities, strengthen security and reduce poverty.

The minister stressed the need for collective responsibility in securing lives and property through sharing of information and intelligence with the security agencies for better response to security challenges.

Earlier, the Chinese Ambassador said China and Nigeria had maintained diplomatic relationship for more than 50 years, adding that there was need to improve on the bilateral relations and intelligence sharing. Jianchun also said there was the need to build strategies for both countries to work together in the areas of politics, economy, military cooperation, ICT, security and infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom (UK) Minister for Africa, James Duddridge, has blamed the security challenges being faced in Nigeria and other African countries on the effects of climate change.

He said from the herders’ crisis in Nigeria or Sahel to other crisis, the common denominator was lack of arable lands and water occasioned by the effects of climate change. He said issues linked to climate change would be elaborated during the Glasgow Climate Change Conference 2021 tagged COP26.

“The broader point of a lot of these conflicts, whether it is the Fulani in Nigeria or the Sahel, it is about land and it is about resources. That resource is contracting with climate change so the UK government is very keen through COP 26 to highlight the problems in Africa. Africa is bearing the brunt of climate change, the shrinking of the Lake Chad, the desertification of potentially arable land, to make sure people have sustainable futures. If that land is not there, if that water is not there, if those young men do not have jobs, there would be further instability,” he said.

(Courtesy: Daily SUN, excluding headline)

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