The Federal Government will soon come up with unconventional strategies to deal with insecurity, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Tuesday.
He described Saturday’s killing of over 43 rice farmers in Borno State as a “dastardly” act.
He spoke with reporters in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, while on a visit to the state.
Osinbajo said the government would do all it takes, including putting new ideas on the table, to better secure the country.
He noted that Boko Haram’s mode of operation was unconventional, so it will require an unorthodox approach to deal with it.
Osinbajo said: “As the President said, this group of people have acted insanely in such a dastardly manner, killing innocent people who had gone to their farms to work.
“I spoke to Governor Babagana Zulum, and the former governor, Senator Kashim Shettima, to express my condolence, but more importantly, to try and think through ways of dealing with this kind of random attacks.
“It’s important to understand also that we will probably need to keep reviewing the conventional means of dealing with some of these security challenges, especially the randomness.
“Which is why the President has said that he is taking a serious look at how to deal with the issues, especially the randomness: some insane person goes into a place and shoots people. That is not the sort of thing that you are prepared for conventionally.
“We have to do a lot more local intelligence with some of the community policing efforts we are planning on, so that information is supplied faster, especially at the local level and then a reaction will then be possible.
“It is a major tragedy; it’s a very unfortunate thing and our hearts are with the families of those who were killed in such a terrible manner.
“We are very confident and the Federal Government will continue to do what it needs to do especially in terms of trying to ensure security in the Northeast and all over Nigeria.
“You’ve heard the President and what he has to say, especially some of the new ideas around security and the security architecture which we are trying to put in place. We will get there.”
By Bolaji Ogundele