The Minister of Police Affairs, Sen. Ibrahim Gaidam, has called for more cooperation with the German Government to reform and enhance the capabilities of the Nigeria Police.

Gaidam made the call on Thursday in Abuja when the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs Annett Guenther, paid him a courtesy visit.

The minister said the cooperation should be in the areas of training, capacity building, technology and equipment support, intelligence sharing and institutional strengthning.

He added that other areas include community engagement programmes, counter terrorism cooperation and legal and judicial support.

“By focusing on these areas of security cooperation, the Nigerian Government can work with the German Government to enhance the capabilities of the Nigerian Police Force and improve its ability.

“With unwavering conviction in the power of sustained cooperation and collaboration, we are resolute in our shared objective of realising a safer and more secure Nigeria,” he said.

The minister commended the German government for its support so far towards enhancing police capabilities in the country.

“We hold in high regard the generous support extended by the German government toward the vital course of police reform.

“As the foremost contributor to the advancement of policing services and reforms within Nigeria, the German government stands as an indispensable ally in our endeavor to fortify law enforcement in Nigeria.

“Your commitment to assisting us in the area of reforms, development and improvement of the police has made significant impacts on our organisation and the community we serve,” he said.

The minister also appreciated the resources, expertise and guidance shared with Nigeria, which were invaluable in strengthening law enforcement and promoting safer environment for all.

Gaidam added that the Federal Government remained committed to fortifying the bond of friendship between the two countries.

“Given the prevailing security challenges confronting Nigeria, the backing of the German government has assumed an unprecedented significance.

“We express our deep gratitude for the continuous aid as we labour toward fostering a secure and protected Nigeria for its inhabitants,” he said.

In her remark, Guenther said the visit was to identify areas the two countries could deepen security cooperation.

She said Nigeria and Germany had a long standing relationship in the area of security, adding that her country was committed to deepening the relationship.

…Says no more payments of ransom to kidnappers

…As economic policies beginning to yield positive results

…’We must root out the scourge of kidnapping’

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared emphatically that there will be no more payments of ransom to either kidnappers “nor toward those policies which have trapped our people economically,” assuring that Nigerians and their economy will be liberated.

Tinubu stated these far reaching positions in an opinion reacting to the abduction of 276 Chibok school girls in the North east ten years ago by Boko Haram. The title of the write up is: Ten years since Chibok – Nigeria will no longer pay the price.

The President further declared that the scourge of kidnappings must be routed once and for all.

“As president, I have been clear that ransoms stop. Resolution through payment only perpetuates the wider problem. This extortion racket must be squeezed out of existence. Meanwhile, the costs for perpetrators must be raised: They will receive not a dime, and instead security services’ counter action.”

According to Tinubu when in March, 137 school children were again tragically taken from a school in Kaduna, northwestern Nigeria, ten years after Chibok the shadow of Chibok loomed large again, because everybody wondered why such an atrocity should still happen.

“This time, unlike Chibok, the girls and boys were brought back a fortnight later, the security and intelligence agencies deployed immediately to rescue them. Nevertheless, legitimate concerns over kidnappings persist in Africa’s most populous country. Success in Kaduna has brought families relief and praise for the military, yet the government bears no illusions.”

According to him, Boko Haram or any other criminal gang engaged in kidnapping don’t operate on the basis of any ideology, instead kidnapping has become an illegal industry rewarded with ransoms where perpetrators collect huge ransoms to further perpetuate their evil, adding that within days of the Kaduna attack for instance, the abductors were demanding 1 billion naira ($600,000).

“But compressing the kidnap for ransom market only addresses the pull factors. If we are to avoid funneling the same people into other crimes that cause normal Nigerians to feel insecure, we must address the push factors.”

The President identified the pull factors which must be addressed to discourage the continuation of the criminal elements as poverty, inequality, and a paucity of opportunity, because without addressing the issues criminal gangs can find easy recruits among those without either a job, or the prospect of one.

“Some 63 percent of Nigerians are multidimensionally poor. They are bearing the economic consequences of a failure by successive governments to get to grips with the Nigerian economy. Fiscal and monetary albatrosses have grounded the country’s flight, when surging demographics demand high economic growth to just maintain current standards of living,” Tinubu said.

He disclosed that it is in response to creating a conducive environment to stimulate economic growth for a surging population and check pervading poverty that his administration took some drastic steps by way of economic policies whose initial impact seem to have worsened the economic plight of citizens but now gradually yielding positive effect.

Just like with the kidnapping matter he also had to take some tough policy decisions on the economy as well to arrest the economic rot that lies at the heart of insecurity.

“A decades-old fuel subsidy was exhausting paltry public finances. By 2022, the cost had ballooned to $10 billion — more than the government’s combined spending on education, health care, and infrastructure in a budget of $40 billion. Currency controls that artificially propped up the naira deterred investment and led to shortages of foreign exchange. For decades we have been financially ransoming ourselves. When my government took office last May, we faced a pile of debt obligations.

“Just as with kidnappers, we had to be tough with the economy. Unsustainable market distortions had to be removed. As expected, floating the naira caused it to plunge. Given Nigeria is a net food importer, the average shopping basket has consequently risen in price. The removal of the fuel subsidy, in a country where many businesses and households rely on generators for power, has also had far reaching effects.

“These reforms have caused pain across Nigeria; they are still painful. Yet there is no better alternative: These and other difficult reforms are necessary to arrest the economic rot that lies at the heart of insecurity.

“Green shoots are now visible. In the first quarter of this year, foreign currency inflows have almost matched those for the whole of last year. A multi-billion forex backlog at the central bank has been cleared, giving foreign investors’ confidence to invest in Africa’s largest economy, safe in the knowledge they can repatriate earnings. The naira has begun to stabilise after its initial downward trend and has made huge gains against the dollar.

“Talk of macroeconomics might seem remote from the challenge of insecurity. But without the fundamentals in place, it is impossible for an enabling environment where the private sector thrives, jobs are created, and opportunity is spread across the country. It is how we ensure children can go to school without fear,” the President said.

Reiterating that no more ransom payments and no going back on major economic policies taken so far that have already started impacting positively on the economy.