The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has assured the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, of the FCT Administration’s support to curb insecurity in the nation.

Mr Wike, who made the pledge when the Chief of Defence Staff visited him in Abuja on Friday, acknowledged the tireless efforts of the Nigerian military to keep Nigeria safe.

He assured Mr Musa of the FCTA’s support in whatever form to improve the security situation in the country and maintain the territorial integrity of the nation.

“Do not hesitate to tell us whatever support you need from the FCT,” he said.

He said that the National Assembly had passed the 2024 FCT statutory budget, adding that a provision was made in the budget for the procurement of drones for security agencies.

This, according to him, will support security agencies to win the ongoing war against all forms of insecurity, particularly in the FCT.

He added, “The budget of FCT has been passed by the National Assembly. We have made provisions in the budget to buy drones to help security agencies in their efforts to reduce crime in the FCT.

“We are providing logistics to the security agencies and in the next few days, patrol vehicles and communication gadgets for security agencies will be ready. What we are also trying to do is to build an FCT Rapid Response Centre that will be managed by a joint team of the military, the police, Department of State Services, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.”

The minister said that the centre would be equipped with technology to strengthen the fight against insecurity.

He condoled with the families of the Nigerian military over the incident in Delta State that left several soldiers dead.

Describing the incident as barbaric, Mr Wike said, “We as FCT, we will support the Nigerian military in whichever way we can. Let’s see what we can do to reduce the pains of the families.”

Earlier, the CDS explained that the visit was to commend Mr Wike for the transformation taking place in the FCT within the short time of being in office as FCT minister.

He also assured the minister support of members of the Armed Forces in whatever way.

He reminded the minister that the armed forces were duty bound to protect Nigerians and defend Nigeria and would not infringe on the rights of the people.

On the menace of one chance, kidnappings and other forms of criminalities, Mr Musa said that he had set up a committee to see how to support ongoing response.

He promised to support the Nigerian Police with ground and air troops in their efforts to maintain peace.

He said, “We are looking at how we can assist the police in responding to acts of criminality. What we are trying to do is to build a force that will be on standby 24/7, in case there’s anything happening, we can provide additional support to the police.”

(NAN)