Defence Minister Musa says terrorism has drastically decreased.

The Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, told Arise Television that terrorism in Nigeria has fallen sharply, giving the country’s security efforts a performance rating of 65 to 70 percent.

Musa said the interview took place on Friday and that no nation is entirely free from crime and criminality. He added that while acts of terrorism and kidnapping still occur, the situation has improved markedly compared with previous years.

He attributed many security challenges to a breakdown in family values and poor social orientation. “Many people involved in kidnapping and other crimes are looking for quick ways to make money rather than embracing hard work,” Musa said.

Musa also suggested that some criminal activities might be politically motivated, aimed at portraying the government as weak or the country as ungovernable.

Despite these challenges, he said the armed forces and other security agencies are working tirelessly to address insecurity across the country.

“Yes, I’ll give ourselves a 65 to 70 percent score. No nation is totally free from crime and criminality, but the level of terrorism across the country has actually drastically reduced,” Musa said.

“Now we have acts of terrorism, and terrorism, like I said, is a social vice, a failure of family values. We have seen fathers kidnapping children, children kidnapping each other, and brothers kidnapping sisters. It tells you that there’s something wrong with the family, and we need to also look inward to see how we can now develop those aspects again, like the issue of education. People need to understand that to make money, work very hard, don’t look for shortcuts.”

“Most of these people taking part in those kidnappings and all these things are looking for shortcuts. And again, you can’t rule out politics, because most of these people they are kidnapping are people that don’t have anything to offer, and you’re asking for one billion naira, knowing that the individual you are kidnapping cannot offer, so what are you doing? Who are you expecting to pay that money?”

“And that’s to tell you that there are some times you can look at it as acts of sabotage to make the government look weak, or to make the country look ungovernable, or whatever.”

“However, the armed forces and security forces are working tirelessly to address those issues. I can tell you, Nigerians working with us, and I want to appreciate Nigerians. The level of support we are getting is a lot better than it used to be in the past, and we’re making more inroads.”