President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday , met behind closed doors with the nation ’s 36 state governors on the security challenges across the country .
He explained that the closure of the nation ’ s land borders was partly an attempt to control the smuggling of weapons and drugs .
Although state governors did not speak with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting held at the Presidential Villa , Abuja , the Presidency issued a statement quoting Buhari as asking the state governors to work more with traditional rulers and community members to improve local intelligence gathering that will aid the work of security agencies .
The statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu , was titled “ President Buhari charges governors to work with traditional rulers for local intelligence . ”
“ Now that the message has sunk in with our neighbours , we are looking into reopening the borders as soon as possible ,” the President said.
Shehu said the President , who listened to presentations by a governor from each of the six geo -political zones on their specific security challenges , recalled that in the old order , communities identified newcomers and passed information to constituted authority .
“ The sub – region is no longer safe , more so with the collapse of the former Libyan leader , Muammar Gaddafi ’s regime and the cross border movement of weapons and criminals .
“ Governors must work with traditional rulers . Try and work with traditional rulers to boost intelligence gathering ,” Shehu quoted the President as saying .
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