Buhari to security chiefs: I’m not ready to leave office a failure

President Muhammadu Buhari says he is not prepared to leave office as a failure and he is determined to turn things around in the war against insecurity.

The president spoke on Thursday after he met with the security chiefs at the presidential villa, Abuja.

Babagana Monguno, the national security adviser (NSA), briefed state house correspondents after the meeting.

Monguno said although the military has “recorded successes”, the president is determined to achieve a turnaround in the fortunes of the country.

He said: “It is evident that a lot of successes have been recorded. Large numbers of people are surrendering in the north-east as a consequence of the relentless efforts of the armed forces, intelligence and security agencies.

“This is very, very evident. We’ve never had such large numbers of people defecting from the other side, back to the Nigerian side, mainly, as a result of many issues within the theatre, issues of infighting among the various factions of the terrorist groups.

“But the new drive of the armed forces, the police, the intelligence agencies, there’s been greatest cooperation, greater synergy intelligence sharing, as well as our partners in the regional intelligence fusion unit.

“So the president was briefed, the president is quite happy that there’s been tremendous success, especially with the advent of the new service chiefs and inspector-general of police.

“And he’s also made it very, very clear that he’s not ready to exit government as a failure. He is not going to tolerate that he’s made changes and is ready to make further changes if he is not satisfied. He is completely determined to ensure that there’s a turnaround in the fortunes in the theatre of operations.”

He added that “the atmosphere is improving” in the north-east and north-west, but “a lot has to be done”.

The NSA said the issue of hunger in the country, which he described as an “emergency situation”, was also discussed at the meeting.

He said: “The president is not oblivious to the pains of the people and is working with the vice-president and other members of council, the relevant ministries, departments and agencies of government to address this issue.

“As far as it’s concerned, it’s also an emergency situation that people should not be left to wallow in hunger, and in despair, this is something that he’s also going to look into. And he’s going to use all the necessary, all the relevant tools at his disposal to address the issue of widespread hunger.”

Monguno said the president has given directives to address the recent killings in Plateau state.

On the plans for Boko Haram insurgents who are surrendering, he said: “I don’t want to immediately divulge what has been decided on those plans till the president takes a firm decision.”