Bandits placing taxes on communities, according to Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed, does not indicate they have taken control.
'Insurgency, secessionism, and banditry threaten Nigeria,' Mohammed stated at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday in response to an article in The Economist magazine headed 'Insurgency, secessionism, and banditry threaten Nigeria.'
The minister stated that the London-based publication was incorrect in claiming that terrorists in the North-East had carved out caliphates for themselves.
While responding to journalist questions about banditry in the North-West, where bandits are now imposing levies on communities, Mohammed argued that imposing levies does not mean criminals are in charge and that it occurs throughout the country, including in the South, where touts known as 'area boys' impose levies.
"Do you know how many places in this country where local boys collect taxes?" he said. There is also no terrorism or banditry. I'm not going to name names.
"They carve up their own territory in many of our cities." As a result, it's not a sign that the bandits have seized over.
“No. I'm familiar with a number of regions in Nigeria, both in the south and the north, where such things occur. As a result, it's not the same."
