The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), has urged state governors and lawmakers to reconsider the distribution of motorcycles as palliatives, warning that some of the vehicles could end up in the hands of terrorists and bandits.
Musa said motorcycles had become useful to terrorists because of their ability to navigate difficult terrain, move quickly and evade security forces.
The minister spoke on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he discussed the Federal Government’s efforts to combat terrorism and other security challenges across the country.
He appealed to governors to exercise caution when distributing motorcycles to residents as part of empowerment or palliative programmes, stressing that such interventions could inadvertently provide mobility for criminal elements.
Musa said, “We try to appeal to even governors to stop giving motorcycles out as palliatives because these motorcycles are the same ones that still end up with these terrorists.
“Even if you have to give, don’t give them the big-capacity motorcycles; give them the small-capacity ones that they won’t be able to use to run around, because that gives them leverage. They can easily enter and then disappear.”
He also warned members of the National Assembly against distributing motorcycles through constituency projects and other intervention schemes without adequate safeguards.
According to him, some motorcycles distributed through such programmes could eventually be diverted to criminal groups and used to facilitate their operations.
The minister said security agencies had also uncovered illegal markets and illicit motor parks allegedly being used as channels for moving weapons and ammunition into areas controlled or frequented by terrorists.
Musa said the discovery had reinforced the need for security agencies and relevant authorities to monitor such locations and identify the networks supporting the movement of arms and other supplies to criminal elements.
He said, “What we realise from experience is they establish illegal markets or illicit motor parks.
They go to those motor parks; that’s where they move arms and ammunition into those areas.”
The defence minister’s warning comes amid continued efforts by security agencies to restrict the mobility, supply chains and operational capacity of terrorists and bandits operating in various parts of the country.
He stressed the importance of cooperation among federal and state authorities in ensuring that government intervention programmes do not unintentionally provide resources that could be exploited by criminal groups.