By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA—Despite the ferocious wave of attacks on indigenous communities by rampaging herdsmen in some parts of the country, the Federal Government has ruled out the possibility of using the military option to quell such violent activities.

The government said since the Police had not been overwhelmed by the attackers, military option was not on the table. Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd), stated this on a Sunday midnight television programme “Question Time” on Channels TV. “We must protect the country which is the main function of the police. The Civil Defence are there to complement them too.

“This is a non-military issue that borders on law and order. It is not every security issue that you call in the military. It is the responsibility of the police to maintain peace. I believe that if we put the police in proper position, in terms of discharging its functions, then there would be no need for military option,” he said.

According to the Global Terrorism Index 2015 report, “Fulani militants” killed 1,229 people in 2014 — up from 63 in 2013 — making them the “fourth most deadly terrorist group” globally.

Privatization of Prisons, an option

Dambazau also hinted at the possibility of privatizing Nigerian Prisons, saying the only challenge with the proposal was that most prison inmates were not serving their sentences but awaiting trial.

He said: “Privatization is an option. How we go about doing that is another thing. Outside the country, for instance in the United Kingdom UK, they rely on ‘Prisons Labour’ to do that and it is from prisons labour they do that to recoup their investment.”