The National Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno says President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that Zamfara State be declared a no fly-zone.
The NSA said this on Tuesday after a four-hour National Security Council meeting presided over by the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
A no-fly zone, also known as an air exclusion zone is a territory or area established by a military power over which certain aircraft are not permitted to fly. Aircraft that violate a no-fly zone may be shot down by the enforcing state, depending on the terms.
Monguno said the President has also banned mining activities in Zamfara to stop the rising insecurity.
Zamafara State is one of the epic-centres of banditry in Northwest Nigeria. The bandits use sophisticated weapons, like anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers, to launch attacks on civilian population.
Monguno said Buhari has charged the new service chiefs to reclaim all areas under the control of bandits, insurgents and kidnappers, adding that the federal government would not allow the country to slide into anarchy.
He said: “We can no longer avoid to lose lives while operating within the legalities. We are not going to be blackmailed. The government has the responsibility to assert its will.
“Citizens can reside wherever they want to reside. Anybody who is a criminal should be brought to book. The president has also warned against ethnic profiling. We have enough of chaos.
“Any individual that thinks he can cause disunity, should have a rethink.”
