The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has declared that the charge by President Muhammadu Buhari to secure the lives and safety of all Nigerians, create enabling environment for economic sustainability and institute a transparency culture as embedded in the Security, Economy and Transparency (SET) agenda, must start immediately.
He made this declaration when he formally took over the affairs of the ministry from the Permanent Secretary, Barr. Georgina E. Ehuriah, who had been acting since 28 May, 2019.
He noted that the Interior Ministry, being a pivotal component of this thrust, must be in the lead.
“This is a very important ministry with gargantuan responsibility for the maintenance of internal security, safety, protection of lives and property, and economic development of our nation. From antiquity and political philosophy, the primal responsibility of government is the welfare of the people, protection of lives and property and maintenance of peace. It is the foundational responsibility on which other responsibilities are built. This is the basis on which we campaigned and Nigerians voted for us. It is a sacred mandate we are fully determined to deliver on,” the minister said.
He added that though insecurity is a global phenomenon, there are challenges that are peculiar to Nigeria. These include insurgency, militancy, armed banditry, cybercrimes, kidnapping for ransom, ritual killings, pipeline vandalism, drug trafficking and abuse, hate crimes, ethnic religious bigotry among others.
He, therefore, enjoined every agency under the ministry to be fully prepared to face these challenges head-on in order to fulfill the policy thrust of President Buhari as encapsulated in the SET agenda.
The minister promised to make staff welfare, as well as those in the four services, a priority in his tenure. He also promised to remove any impediment that would jeopardise the smooth implementation of the SET goals.
Aregbesola, who had the pedigree of presiding over the safest state in Nigeria in 2018 when he was Governor of Osun State, called on the staff and management of the ministry to ensure that Nigeria is returned to its status as a secured and peaceful country.
