Commander General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Abdullahi Gana says the corps are working in conjunction with the Police to restore the confidence of the people in the Northeast.

Gana said one thousand five hundred NSCDC personnel and one thousand five hundred policemen had been deployed to the deserted towns in the area in the wake of the activities of Boko Haram.

Adamawa, Borno and Yobe are the most affected states in the over six years OF insurgency carried out by Boko Haram terrorists in the Northeast.

Borno State has, however, lost more territories than its sister states with the bandits sacking locals from 20 out of the 27 local government areas in the state.

The result is the displacement of nearly two million persons, with many forced to live in makeshift camps within Maiduguri, the capital city.

The Nigerian armed forces said troops of the Operation Lafiya Dole had recaptured all lost territories.

A mandate of December 2016 had been given to the military by President Muhammadu Buhari to end the activities of Boko Haram in the region.

The state government believes that the deployment of civil authorities in abandoned towns would complement the efforts of the Nigerian Army.

The commander general, however, said that the operations had not been without challenges as the business of providing security for any crisis area was always a difficult experience.

Gana said NSCDC was determined to put a stop to illegal mining in the country in spite of the myriad of challenges, saying the activities of illegal miners was jeopardising the country’s economic growth in view of the fact the perpetrators of the act were making billions of naira at the expense of the country.

Recall that the Minister of Mines and steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, said at a recent meeting attended by all cadre of workers in the ministry that the huge scale of illegal mining in the country was synonymous to economic terrorism.

He said government was determined to confront anyone or group positioning themselves to sabotage the Nigerian economy through illegal mining and other means.

More than 1000 illegal mining sites are said to be existing in Nigeria through activities that promote illicit financial outflows, thereby denying the country of highly needed income from its rich natural resources.

Gana said NSCDC was working out a “unified salary structure’’ for private guards companies in the country, saying plans to professionalise the private guard industry as well as open the doors of the sector to private investigators.

The commandant general said the measures led to the closure of more than 200 private guard companies in the country because according to him, they could not cope with the stringent requirements.