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Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (retd), has called for the restoration of tollgates on major highways and the deployment of modern technology to enhance security and track criminal activity.
Speaking at an APC Progressive Strategy Roundtable event in Abuja, Musa described removing tollgates as a potential mistake, noting that modern electronic tolling systems could help security agencies identify and track vehicles using registration data.
The minister also advocated for strengthening the national identification system through personal identification numbers, facial recognition, and fingerprints to improve security monitoring.
Musa stated that the government was making progress against terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping.
He noted that 5.4 trillion naira was allocated to defence in the 2026 budget and that 12,000 additional military personnel were being recruited.
He added that security forces killed over 300 terrorists and bandits, including more than 10 commanders, in the week preceding his presentation.
Highlighting porous borders as a major challenge, Musa said the government was strengthening border security and maintaining defence cooperation with Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali despite their withdrawal from ECOWAS.
He also emphasised local defence manufacturing, noting that Nigeria recently hosted the first African International Military Defence Exhibition, which attracted 63 countries.
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Addressing the military’s involvement in internal security, Musa acknowledged that troops were overstretched but stated their deployment was necessary when challenges exceeded police capacity.
He noted that soldiers’ salaries had been increased to nearly 200,000 naira and that personnel received psychological assessments after operations.
Also speaking, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Police Trust Fund, Mohamed Shaidou, said the government approved about 100 billion naira for the rehabilitation of police training institutions and was working towards providing 1,000 housing units per state for officers.
