Christopher Musa, chief of defence staff (CDS), has said strengthening family values is essential to addressing insecurity in Nigeria.

Speaking on Thursday at the closing of the 2025 edition of “Exercise Haske Biyu” at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) in Jaji, Kaduna, Musa explained that the exercise placed emphasis on family values, civic duty, and moral resilience as core responses to security challenges facing Nigeria and other participating nations.

“The family is the bedrock of every community. Without the family, there can’t be a good community,” he said.

He noted that the breakdown of the family system has contributed to rising insecurity. “What we have realised is that because the family system is failing, insecurity is growing, which means if we address the family issues, insecurity will go down,” Musa added.

The defence chief stressed that families must instil discipline, respect, and love in children, values that shape responsible citizens. “That is why you have the regulations. That is how people grow up to understand what it is to be human, what it is to respect one another and what it is to love one another,” he said.

Musa urged families to remain united, stating that strong family bonds promote national cohesion. “If families are united, then we are our brothers’ keepers and will not allow harm to happen to any other person, and Nigeria will be better,” he said.

He described the theme of this year’s exercise, “Family and national security”, as timely, noting that security begins with strong families and cohesive communities, not just with the actions of security agencies.

The CDS said the programme reinforced the relevance of the AFCSC in shaping Nigeria’s internal security strategy through joint training, intellectual engagement, and collaboration with ministries, departments, and agencies. He added that the participation of the first lady, Oluremi Tinubu, who delivered a keynote address at the opening, highlighted the importance of values and civic responsibility.

According to him, the first lady’s interaction with participants left a lasting impression that would inspire policy dialogue and collaborative efforts in tackling insecurity.

He urged participants to put lessons from the training into practice in the pursuit of peace and stability. Musa also inaugurated the remodelled staff duties wing of the college during the event.

Hassan Alhaji, commandant of the AFCSC, said the exercise underscored the importance of strong families as the foundation of society. He warned that weak family structures could fuel extremism, radicalism, and disunity, threatening national stability.

The commandant said the exercise enabled participants to design practical solutions to national challenges and empowered them as stakeholders in development. He added that the 2026 edition would build on this year’s progress by involving all arms of government, wider society, and persons with disabilities.

Atiku Abubakar has denied reports claiming that he promised to step down for a “younger candidate” in the 2027 presidential election.

Paul Ibe, the former vice-president’s spokesman, issued a statement on Tuesday clarifying that Atiku’s remarks during an interview with the BBC Hausa Service had been misrepresented.

“It has become necessary to clarify certain misrepresentations arising from the reportage of an interview granted by His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, to the BBC Hausa Service by some sections of the media,” Ibe said.

According to him, after reviewing both the video and transcripts of the interview in Hausa and in English translation, it was clear that Atiku “at no point expressly state, suggest, or even imply that he intends to step down for anyone”.

“What Atiku Abubakar clearly and unambiguously said was that young people, as well as other prospective presidential aspirants, are free to enter the contest,” Ibe explained.

He added that Atiku only stressed his willingness to support a younger candidate if such a person were to emerge through a competitive primary, noting that he would do so “without any hesitation”.

Ibe cautioned that while interpretative journalism is part of reporting, stretching interpretation “to the point of mischief” was unacceptable.

“For the records, therefore, the insinuations attributed to the Waziri Adamawa from his BBC Hausa interview are inaccurate and do not reflect what he actually said,” the statement read.

Atiku is expected to contest for the presidential ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which has been adopted by several opposition politicians as a platform to challenge the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027.

Earlier report had it that the three-time presidential candidate had said he could accept defeat if a younger aspirant emerged victorious in the ADC primary election.

Yemi Kale, former statistician-general of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says about 89 million Nigerians, representing 40 percent of the population, currently live below the poverty line.

Kale, who is now group chief economist and managing director of research and trade intelligence at Afreximbank, made the disclosure at The Platform Nigeria’s Independence Day event themed ‘Rebuilding Our Nation’.

He explained that Nigeria ranks as the country with the second-highest number of poor people in the world, coming only after India.

“To grasp the magnitude of this number, we can consider that fewer than 20 of the world’s 195 recognised countries even have a population larger than just Nigeria’s estimated number of poor,” he said.

The economist warned that the poverty crisis is worsening, adding that the trends “threaten the very promise of independence that every Nigerian should have the opportunity to thrive at home”.

He attributed the situation largely to policy missteps and delays in implementing necessary reforms, noting that “key adjustments, some finally underway, should have begun over a decade ago, when warning signs were already evident”.

According to him, earlier action would have softened the impact on households and businesses, sparing the economy years of “compounding fiscal and inflationary pressures”. Instead, he said, distortive monetary and exchange rate policies lingered, undermining investor confidence and discouraging investment.

Kale acknowledged that the series of reforms introduced recently are “challenging and painful”, but insisted “there is really no credible alternative”.

He stressed that consistent and transparent implementation of the reforms is essential to transform Nigeria’s economic potential into tangible and inclusive prosperity.

“The challenge, however, is to ensure that the path of reform is as painless, humane, and well-sequenced as possible,” he added, cautioning that in the past reforms had been poorly executed, leading to “avoidable hardships”.

Kale maintained that the government’s role is not to avoid reforms but to sustain them while urgently strengthening social protections. He emphasised that this would ensure the reform journey remains both economically sound and socially just.