…11,600 other militants arrested

Soni Daniel, Editor, Northern Region

Nigerian forces eliminated no fewer than 8000 terrorists and hauled more than 11600 militants into their custody in 2024, dealing a major blow to elements challenging national security and peace of the nation.

At the same time, the forces successfully rescued 8000 kidnap victims across the country and recovered more than 10,000 weapons from non-state actors within the year.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, gave the highlight while briefing the media on the activities of the Tinubu-led administration on Tuesday in Abuja.

The Information minister announced at the event that President Tinubu had ordered all ministers in his cabinet to render account of their stewardship to the Nigerian people by appearing before the media to explain their work to the people since their appointment into public office.

Alhaji Idris explained that the ministerial briefing is to enable each minister to explain their achievements and challenges to the people so as to build confidence and create awareness about the administration.

But the minister seized the opportunity of the briefing to boast about the successes already recorded by the Tinubu administration, citing the progress made in the fiscal, oil and gas, passport reforms and student loans support as some of the feats.

According to the minister, the various measures, among them, the introduction of the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) last December, have resulted in unprecedented stability, and in the clearance of billions of dollars in FX backlogs that discouraged foreign investment.

Idris also said that the strong performance of the fiscal policies has resulted in increased forex inflow into Nigeria, boosting the economy in the process. He said capital inflow into the Nigerian Stock Exchange has jumped from four percent in 2023 to an average of 16 percent in 2024.

“Last week, the Naira hit an eight-month high at the official foreign exchange market. According to the Nigerian Exchange Group, foreign capital inflow into the Nigerian Stock Exchange has risen from 4 percent in mid-2023 to an average of 16 percent at the end of 2024,” Idris pointed out.

“Oil and Gas reforms that in 2024 made Nigeria the most attractive destination for oil and gas investments in Africa, as well as attracting over $5 billion in signed investment commitments, known as Final Investment Decisions (FIDs),” the minister added.

Turning to another area of success by the administration, Idris pointed out that no fewer than 169,000 Nigerian students have benefited to the tune of N32.8 billion disbursed by the Federal Government under the Nigerian Education Loans fund, NELFUND.

According to him, out of the amount so far disbursed, N20 billion was spent on school fees while the balance of N12.8 went into upkeep and allowances for the benefitting students spread in 150 tertiary institutions across Nigeria.

The minister also boasted that in its bid to reduce reliance on petrol and gas, the Nigerian government has successfully encouraged the establishment of no fewer than 150 compressed natural gas conversion centres nationwide.

The minister said, “The Tinubu Administration has directly invested over $450 million in the development of Nigeria’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) value chain, through the Presidential CNG Initiative.

“This has helped unlock additional private sector financing, and the results are emerging speedily: from seven CNG conversion centers in Nigeria in 2023, we now have over 150 across the country and counting,” Idris stated.