President Muhammadu Buhari said he had ordered heads of security agencies to take all necessary actions to apprehend rampaging herdsmen who had been causing havoc across the country.
According to a statement on Tuesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke while receiving members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday evening.
The President who was reacting to reports of continued attacks on communities across the country by armed herdsmen, restated his administration’s resolve to deal decisively and expeditiously with the matter.
“We are determined to secure all Nigerians and I have told the Inspector-General of Police and other security agencies, in very strong terms, to deal decisively with the attackers,” the President said.
Buhari expressed his personal condolences to the Catholic Bishop of Enugu, the people of Ukpabi Nimbo and all other communities that have suffered fatalities and other losses from the recent attacks.
Speaking on other national issues, the President was said to have assured the bishops that he was acting with deliberation and moving methodically to implement his change agenda for the good of the country.
“We need to rebuild our institutions methodically, we need to change the way we do things.
“In the last 10 years, crude oil sold for more that $100 per barrel, but Nigeria did not save. That is why we have found ourselves where we are today,” President Buhari told the Catholic Bishops, led by Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, the Archbishop of Jos.
The President assured them that his administration was working very hard to fulfill all the promises it had made to Nigerians, adding that his greatest motivating factor now is the desire to bring positive change to Nigeria.
On behalf of the bishops, Kaigama expressed the solidarity of the CBCN with the President.
“We are willing to collaborate with you and with your administration, in which we see hope for a greater Nigeria,” he told the President.
The bishops pledged continued prayers for Nigeria and the government, expressing their conviction that current hardships are temporary, and Nigeria will soon overcome its present difficulties.
PUNCH
