3 yıl önce

Nigeria bans mining and flights after schoolgirl abductions

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a "massive" deployment of military and intelligence assets to restore normalcy to Nigeria's northwest, National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno said.

Reuters

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari speaks after security forces rescued schoolboys from kidnappers, in Katsina, Nigeria, December 18, 2020.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has banned mining and has imposed a no-flight zone in the northwestern state of Zamfara, vowing to crack down on lawlessness in the area in response to the abduction last week of 279 schoolgirls, since freed.

Buhari ordered a "massive" deployment of military and intelligence assets to restore normalcy to Nigeria's northwest, National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno told journalists in Abuja after a security council meeting.

The government "will not allow this country to drift into state failure," he said in response to the abductions. "We are not going to be blackmailed."

SECURITY: President @MBuhari has approved the imposition and enforcement of a BAN on ALL mining activities in Zamfara State, with immediate effect, until further notice.

The President has also approved that Zamfara State be declared a No-Fly-Zone with immediate effect.
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) March 2, 2021

A series of school abductions in recent months has led many Nigerians to worry that regional authorities are making the situation worse by letting kidnappers go unpunished or paying them off.

Buhari said earlier on Tuesday that the practice of paying ransoms had encouraged kidnappers. The state government in Zamfara has denied paying a ransom but said it offered the kidnappers amnesty and help settling.

Zamfara is home to large gold deposits, with a legal mining industry operating alongside illegal mines that the authorities say have fuelled violence. The impact of a no-fly zone was difficult to assess as the state has no major airport.

Armed groups have plagued the state and its neighbours in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, looting and destroying communities and murdering civilians. Security forces' attempts to halt their rampage have met with little success.