FG to Review Military Rules of Engagement

Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Nigerian vice president

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday in Abuja said that government would progressively review the rules of engagement by the military and across the nation’s security system, and take into considerations human rights issues.

A statement issued Monday by his spokesman, Mr. Laolu Akande, said Osinbajo made the promise during a meeting with members of the United Nations Security Council who are on a visit to the country.

Osinbajo also said it was time for the international community to take another look at the international legal instruments and conventions governing warfare and conflicts in the light of the very unconventional and brutal operations of terrorists and insurgents around the world.

He said: ”We must, on a global scale, look again at how to deal with these new challenges. We need to look at the governing conventions, what type of legal categories, recognition of law we should give them (to the perpetrators of terror and insurgents).

“We need to re-examine how to deal with these individuals according to law.”
He said that the government’s Social Investment Programme (SIP) including the conditional cash transfer, the micro credit scheme and the N-Power job programme, would cater to the developmental needs of the North-eastern part of the country affected by the insurgency.

He said government was already disbursing the cash transfers in some Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDP) camps and host communities.

He said government was also implementing a micro credit scheme, using the SIP to resuscitate the local economies, including through the anchor borrowers’ plan for farmers.
He urged the international community to support Nigeria in the area of humanitarian response, describing the challenge as massive.

He disclosed that the government was also in the process of passing a North-east Development Commission Bill that would deal with some of the long term developmental issues.

The United Nations Security Council members were led by the United Kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Mathew Rycroft. The delegation consisted of all the five permanent members and the 10 non-permanent members of the council.

Speaking earlier at the meeting, Ambassador Rycroft praised the Nigerian government for its handling of the humanitarian challenge in the North-east, and called for a long term developmental outlook in the region, addressing the issues of good governance, human rights, women’s participation, economic revival, education and jobs.

Some members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and top officials of the administration that attended the meeting included the Minister of Defence, Major-General Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd.); Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyema; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma; Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Suleiman Adamu; Minister of State for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Jubrin; National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd.); and the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin.