The federal government is considering a nationwide ban on motorcycles and mining activities in the country over rising insecurity.
This was part of the decision reached at the National Security Council meeting on Thursday, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja.
This, according to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, is part of its strategy to curb terrorist activities, checkmate loopholes and cut off their sources of funding.
Addressing state house correspondents after the meeting, Mr. Malami stated that investigations are still ongoing, especially to establish the correlation between mining and motorcycles which they suspect provide funding for the supply of arms to the terrorists.
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Malami noted that terrorists had moved from the conventional ways of funding their activities to mining and ransom taking.
He disclosed that the government was not unaware of the economic consequences of the proposed resolutions, particularly the motorcycle ban, but it has become imperative in order to guarantee the nation’s security.
“Terrorist groups, in particular in Nigeria, are increasingly interested in controlling areas of production of gold.
“The opportunistic nature of these activities ties strongly to the fact that gold is often the favoured mineral of the terrorist groups as many of these groups use this to secure a source of funding for future operations,” he said.