The Federal Government has said that it is considering banning the use of motorcycles and mining activities across the country.
Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, disclosed this Thursday, 21 July, to State House Correspondents after a meeting of the National Security Council chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to Malami, the move was aimed at curtailing the activities of terrorists, who use motorcycles to perpetrate their evil acts as well as mine solid minerals and use the proceeds to procure arms.
He explained that it was in the interest of the nation as the ban on the use of motorcycles and mining activities will cut the supply of logistics to the terrorists.
“We are Nigerians because Nigeria as a country exists and any issue that will translate into a threat to national security or the corporate existence of the country requires certain sacrifices.
“So, regardless of the means that is being considered for the possible banning, this is a sacrifice that we see as what will help address the security challenges and I think no sacrifice is too big as far as that issue is concerned.
“Above all, if you are talking of banning motorcycles for example, I think the number of people using these motorcycles is not up to 20 percent of the Nigerian population. So if that percentage is called to make a sacrifice that is all pervading or affecting over 200 million Nigerians, I think that sacrifice is not too much and is worthy of being considered.”
The Justice Minister said, the responsibility of government is the public interest as against individual interests thus the bans being considered by the government are in the interest of the nation.
Malami added that government had since discovered that following its blockage of sources of funding for terrorists, the enemies of the State have now resorted to the use of non-conventional sources of funding like mining and collection of ransom, to fund their nefarious activities.
