Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour, says his statement on insecurity in the country is deliberately misconstrued.
Speaking during an interview on Channels TV, Keyamo said the security situation of the country is not as perilous and parlous as people portray it.
Keyamo, who is also the spokesperson of the presidential campaign of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), boasted that he can drive from Abuja to Kaduna without security escorts.
Quizzed if he could drive despite the security challenges, the minister of state for labour and employment said: “Some people do, I can do it. I can do it. I saw headlines last week saying that I said insecurity has been brought to an all-time low by Buhari. I didn’t say so. It’s still the season of wrong headlines. I said what we met on the ground, Boko Haram in the north-east. I was specific and so they quoted me generally to say Boko Haram and insecurity throughout the whole country. I only said Boko Haram in the north-east, it has not been totally wiped out, but we have reduced this significantly.
“All the roads that lead to Chibok and Damboa in Borno, they are now passable. The issue of the farmer-herder crisis came to a height between 2017 and 2020. The World Terrorism Index said so. Not me. The body also said the attacks reduced so much in 2021. And further reduced again now in 2022. So, it’s a downward spiral in terms of the farmer-herder crisis.
“In terms of banditry and kidnapping, they are on the rise in the north-west and some parts of the middlebelt. I have admitted that.”
Over the years, the 155km Abuja-Kaduna highway has had a long history of insecurity with incessant robbery and kidnapping by bandits on the highway.