Nigeria's restive NE state says no restriction of movement

There will be no restriction of movement within and outside restive northeast Nigeria's Borno State during this year's Sallah celebrations, a top official said Monday.

Kashim Shettima, the state governor made the announcement shortly after an emergency meeting of the State Security Council in Maiduguri, the state capital.

He told reporters "after extensive deliberation with core members of the State Security Council and after weighing all the options; and after taking a helicopter surveillance of the state capital and assessing the security situation."

"We have resolved not to restrict movement of persons or vehicles in the state during this year's Sallah celebrations," Shettima said.

He said government had also decided to allow free movement of persons to and from the state during the celebrations.

Shettima said that government would introduce stringent security measures to ensure safety at the various Eid grounds across the state.

The governor urged the people of the state to be vigilant and report suspicious movements to security agents near them.

This is the first time in six years that the state will witness the celebration of religious festival without restriction of movements for fear of Boko Haram attacks.

Meanwhile, the military headquarters is reviewing its sensitization strategy in furtherance of its efforts to consolidate on successes recorded in the northeast operations.

The Theater Commander, "Operation Lafiya Dole", Maj.-Gen. Lucky Irabor, disclosed this at the inauguration of three units of motorized public address system.

The motorized public address systems were inaugurated by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Monday at the Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri.

He said the motorized public address system would enhance the command's interaction with the public, in addition to the use of leaflets.

Irabor said each unit of the mobile public address system would carry messages in the major languages spoken in the region.

On his part, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, said the new strategy would have a huge impact on the de-radicalization and indoctrination programs of the military.

He said the Hilux vehicles equipped with state-of-art facilities would be deployed to parts of the North East to sensitize the people about the Army's operations.

Buratai said the use of the specialized vehicles for communication purposes conforms with the Army's new information initiative. Endit