Nigeria’s Defence Minister, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), has raised the alarm over a disturbing unintended consequence of government intervention programmes, warning that motorcycles handed out as palliatives are ending up in the hands of terrorists and bandits.
Musa, who spoke on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, urged governors and lawmakers to rethink the distribution of motorcycles under palliative and constituency projects, saying the vehicles are providing criminals with a critical advantage — speed and mobility.
“We try to appeal to even governors to stop giving motorcycles out as palliatives. Because these motorcycles are the same ones that still end up with these terrorists,” the minister said.
According to him, motorcycles are particularly valuable to terrorists because they can penetrate rugged terrain, move rapidly through remote communities and disappear before security forces can intercept them.
Musa suggested that where motorcycles must be distributed as palliatives, authorities should consider smaller-capacity models that would be less useful for criminal operations.
“Even if you have to give, don’t give them the big capacity motorcycles, give them the small capacity ones that they won’t be able to use to run around,” he said.
The minister warned that the problem extends beyond government palliative schemes. Motorcycles distributed through constituency projects and other intervention programmes, he said, can also eventually fall into the hands of bandits and terrorists.
“Those bikes… before you know it, it already gets back to the bandits and that’s what they’re using,” Musa said, calling for stronger monitoring of the channels through which such vehicles enter vulnerable communities.
‘Terrorists Are Using Illegal Markets, Motor Parks’
Musa also identified illegal markets and illicit motor parks as major conduits for the movement of weapons, ammunition and drugs into areas controlled or threatened by terrorists.
“What we realised from experience is they establish illegal markets or illicit motor parks. They go to those motor parks, that’s where they move arms and ammunition into those areas,” he said.
He urged state and local authorities to intensify surveillance around markets, motor parks and other strategic locations used to move illicit goods.
“If we’re able to make sure that we man all the markets, all the motor parks, all these areas where drugs, weapons, ammunition will move, it will make it difficult for them,” Musa said.
Musa Demands Stronger Local Security Structure
The Defence Minister also blamed weak local governance for worsening insecurity, insisting that local governments must be empowered to play a frontline role in identifying and confronting criminal networks.
“Failure of local government is what is aggravating what we’re dealing with,” he said.
Musa argued that local government chairmen are closer to the communities and therefore better positioned to identify criminals, their hideouts and emerging security threats.
“Because crime and development is local,” he said, stressing that local officials should hold regular security meetings and provide timely reports on developments in their areas.
According to him, local government authorities should be dealing with security issues weekly, rather than leaving the responsibility almost entirely to state and federal authorities.
No Ransom Payments, Minister Says
On the contentious issue of ransom payments for kidnapped victims, Musa rejected claims that the Federal Government pays terrorists to secure the release of hostages.
“We are not paying. We don’t encourage ransom,” he said, adding that anyone who pays ransom is committing an offence.
“It’s not a government policy to pay ransom to anybody,” the minister declared.
Musa Backs State Police — With A Warning
Musa also threw his weight behind the establishment of state police, describing it as potentially useful in tackling insecurity if properly structured.
But he warned that the initiative must not become a tool for ethnic or sectional interests.
“It must be properly processed. We should not allow it to go into ethnic group,” he said.
For Musa, the battle against terrorism requires more than military firepower. It also demands tighter control of transportation networks, stronger local intelligence, closer monitoring of intervention programmes and a security system capable of cutting criminals off from the resources that give them an operational advantage.
Defence Minister:Palliative Motorcycles Finding Their Way to Terrorists
