In a rare admission of the economic malaise the past administration of Muhammadu Buhari put Nigeria, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, says ? the country was plunged into bankruptcy.
At the Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI) annual conference on Monday, Ribadu said, “We are facing very serious budgetary constraints. It is okay for me to tell you. It is fine for you to know. We have a very serious situation.
“We have inherited a very difficult country, a bankrupt country to the extent that we are paying back what was taken. It is serious.
“But this administration is doing its best to meet our requirements including that of the armed forces.”
He praised the Armed Forces of Nigeria over the sustained successes being recorded in the ongoing fight against insecurity across the country.
Themed ‘Leveraging Defence Diplomacy and Effective Regional Collaboration for Enhanced National Security’, Ribadu said at the CDI conference that the armed forces under the current leadership had shown serious commitment to addressing the prevailing security challenges bedevilling the country, adding that there were positive changes and improvements both in and outside Nigeria.
His words: “Let us come together as one and continue to support our armed forces and other security agencies with this work of securing our country for peace and stability.
“They have done an amazingly good job without talking and I believe that with the support and the resolve of the leadership that we have today in our country, things will only be better.
“We are just four or five months old, but certainly things have changed and we believe that what they are doing, they are doing it right.
“We want to encourage them, stand by them and support them 100 per cent and hopefully this country will be okay in a short period of time.”
According to him, the renewed synergy among services was achieving much.
The improved security in the Niger Delta region, he added, has increased daily oil production from 900,000 barrels per day about a year ago, to about 1.7 million barrels per day currently.
Attacks on oil installations have also reduced drastically in recent times, he claims, because of the commitment of the military, while insurgency-related deaths have also reduced in the North East and North West.
Hundreds of kidnapped hostages had also been rescued from the terrorists in different theatres of operation across the country.