FG to introduce biometric identification to tackle arms, drugs smuggling

Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen Abdurrahman Danbazzau, Tuesday said that the Federal Government would introduce biometric identification at border posts to tackle problems of arms and drugs smuggling.

Danbazzau spoke on Tuesday in Kaduna at a town hall meeting on President Muhammadu Buhari’s one year in office.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the meeting is “Change starts with me“.

Danbazzau said that the use of the biometric identification would check human trafficking and tighten security at the borders.

“One of our responsibilities is to provide conducive environment in which development can take place.

“ We are collaborating with other ministries to ensure that our responsibilities are delivered adequately.

“We are saddled with the responsibilities of granting business permit, we deal with the issue of citizenship, both granting and withdrawal of marriage certificate,’’ he said.


The minister said that security agencies were working tirelessly to reduce violent crimes in the country, including kidnapping, vandalism, herdsmen invasion and armed robbery.

According to him, the military had succeeded in winning the war against insurgency in the North-East and is still engaged in mpo up operation and humanitarian services.

Danbazzau said the ministry would collaborate with other MDAs to rehabilitate and reconstruct areas in the region affected by the insurgency.

On prisons, he said the ministry was faced with the challenge of congestion.

“ Our prisons are congested with close to 70,000 prisons inmates and awaiting trials.

“Quiet a number of them are there because they cannot pay fines and some of them do not have fair justice. We required N10 billion every year to feed them,’’ he said.

The minister said government would explore ways to reduce the huge feeding cost of the inmates, and was considering privatising the prisons for effective management.

Danbazzau also said that the clash between herdsmen and farmers was a challenge to the government.

“ This is an issue that is bothering us because it has a long history and not only in the country; Ghana has a similar challenge.

“ We held a strategic meeting so as to see how we can tackle it but we realise it is not only in Nigeria, so we need to look at it in a wider scope.

“ It is a problem that move around the whole Africa region,’’ the minister said. (NAN)