BY Johnbosco Agbakwuru
Calabar— Defence Headquarters, Abuja, has put measures in place to check the activities of militants and other criminal elements in the border areas, especially the buffer zone between Nigeria and Cameroon.

Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Ola Ibra-him, who disclosed this in Calabar, weekend, said the Nigerian Navy posts more personnel to the border areas to protect the territorial waterways of the country against the activities of pirates between the two countries.

Vice-Admiral Ibrahim assured Nigerians that there will be peace in the riverine areas. He was responding to an appeal by Cross River State Government for protec-tion of its citizens against the activities of pirates, criminals and militants at the Nigeria/Cameroon border areas in Bakassi during the commissioning of educa-tional facilities built by the Naval Officers Women Association, NOWA, in Calabar.

According to him, the buffer zones creating problems between Nige-ria and Cameroon will soon be addressed as the military authorities were on the matter.

Ibrahim said: “The Defence Headquarters has identified the problems and solutions were being put forward. Within the shortest time, the problem will be solved permanently.”

While commissioning the educational facilities put in place by NOWA, Ibrahim said the country had not made commensurate investment in education of children.

He called on the three tiers of government,  parents and socio-religious organisations to make sacrifices by investing and ensuring that every Nigerian child has access to quality education.

He said: “Quality education determines the difference between progress and retro-gression in any society.” He added that countries that invest in education progress faster than those that do not make education a priority.

Speaking earlier, Governor Liyel Imoke, who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Efiok Cobham, said the activities of criminals at the waterways had adversely affected the economy of the state.