The Nigerian government said on Thursday that it was considering a ban on motorcycles and mining activities across the country to curb the nation’s lingering security challenges.
A former Director of State Security Services (SSS), Mike Ejiofor, has faulted the plan by the federal government to ban the use of motorcycles across the country.
Mr Ejiofor stated this on Thursday during an interview with Channels Television.
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, told journalists after the meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) at the State House on Thursday that the government was considering a ban on motorcycles and mining activities to curb insecurity in the country.
“Placing a ban on the use of motorcycles and mining activities will cut the supply of logistics to the terrorists,” Mr Malami said.
The terrorist groups in the North-east and some other parts of the country reportedly carry out their operations using motorcycles.
Although he acknowledged that the ban is a mere proposition, Mr Ejiofor argued that such a decision will have negative socio-economic implications for the people.
“So, if you ban the use of motorbikes in such areas (areas prone to terrorist attacks) one can understand it but if you put a blanket or overall ban in the country, I think it’s going to cause a lot of socio-economic problems,” he said.
He, however, said if the government must go ahead with the plan, it must provide alternative means of transportation or risk an increase in crime rate across the country.
On the proposed ban on mining activities, he commended the federal government for establishing the link between illegal mining and operations of bandits in states like Zamfara.
Mr Ejiofor said mining, which should be undertaken exclusively by the federal government, is now being carried out by illegal miners and has therefore become a breeding ground for the enemies of the state.
He said the government was aware of illegal mining but did not take action to halt it.
“There’s no way the federal government, with its intelligence, will tell me that it is not aware of all those illegal mining sites. But the question is, what action is going to be taken by the government?,” the retired SSS director said.