FG Bans Unauthorized Use Of Drones, Broadcast Equipment

The federal government has banned unauthorized acquisition of firearms, drones and broadcast equipment.as part of broad measures to stem the tide of insecurity in the country.

The National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno stated this during the General Security Appraisal Committee Meeting at the Office of NSA (ONSA) in Abuja.

Retired Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno stressed that the abuse of social media platforms in addition to the illicit acquisition of controlled items by none state actors have become the major source of insecurity in the country.

He warned those already in possession of these unauthorized items to surrender them to the appropriate authorities in order to avoid the full wrath the law.

He said “…members of the public are sternly warned against illicit acquisition of controlled items such as firearms, remotely piloted aircraft (drones) and broadcast equipment amongst others. Accordingly, those with such illegally acquired controlled items are hereby advised to voluntarily surrender them to the appropriate security agencies.”

The National Security Adviser gave an instance of the recent violence in Benue, Plateau, Zamfara and Kaduna States as a worrying cases of insecurity across the country fuelled by abuse of social media platforms through fake news, hate speech and incitement as well as illegal possession of controlled items.

He said that ONSA has activated its Crisis Response Platform for anonymous reporting of suspicious activities and security incidents in order to further ensure security of persons and confidentiality of reports by citizens

The NSA advised all citizens to send anonymous reports through SMS to the short code that will be provided for early response.