The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, said good governance is a top requirement in tackling Nigeria’s current security challenges.

The CDS said this on Thursday at the official launch of the Presidential Community Engagement Peace Initiative (PCEPI) for the North-Central region in Jos, Plateau State.

The initiative is the brainchild of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement in charge of North-Central, Abiodun Essiet.  

Mr Musa, who spoke at the event as a special guest, said that the security agencies alone would not bring the desired peace and security to the country.

According to the CDS, due to the growing population and size of Nigeria, the military does not have the manpower to secure all parts of the country.

He said, “The military cannot be everywhere; there is no nation that has enough forces to secure the whole of its territorial borders. Nigeria is over 900,000 square kilometres. We do not have the capacity to man everywhere. So, what we largely do is to interface through non-kinetic efforts. The kinetic effort is just about 25 to 30 per cent of the solution; 70 per cent is non-kinetic. And what does that have to do with anything? It has to do with good governance, and good governance has a lot of layers. Giving everyone a sense of belonging is a critical aspect of good governance.’’

The CDS, who promised that the military would remain professional in its operations, called on the traditional rulers to expose the bad eggs in their domain.

(NAN)