Mohammed Idris, Nigeria’s Information Minister: Stopping militant attacks
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“I don't think they failed. I think that more work needs to be done. Nigerian security agencies are working around the clock to ensure that this does not happen again. We don't want to see people being attacked, we don't to see people denied sleep as a result of the activities of these criminals and religious extremists.”
Victoria Uwonkunda speaks to Mohammed Idris, Nigeria’s Information Minister, about renewed concerns over security following a wave of deadly suicide bombings in the country’s north-east, which killed more than 20 people and injured more than 100.
The violence has raised fresh questions about whether the authorities can prevent such attacks.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and one of its largest economies, but it faces pressing challenges. From tackling brain drain and creating opportunities for a young and fast-growing population, to managing its role as a major oil producer in an uncertain global economy. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, and Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the UN. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Victoria Uwonkunda Producers: Lucy Sheppard and Osman Iqbal Editor: Justine Lang and Damon Rose
Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Mohammed Idris Credit: REUTERS)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.5 | Hello, I'm Victoria 100 BBC presenter, |
| 0:10.1 | and this is the interview from the BBC World Service, |
| 0:13.8 | the best conversations coming out of the BBC. |
| 0:17.5 | People shaping our world from all over the world. |
| 0:22.7 | If you're not a little bit afraid, then you're not paying attention. |
| 0:27.5 | We have never seen a people so united. |
| 0:31.0 | Do not make that boat crossing. Do not make that journey. |
| 0:33.7 | Being born in America, feeling American, having people treat me like I'm not. |
| 0:37.8 | We're more popular than populism. |
| 0:42.7 | For this interview, I met Muhammad Idris, Nigeria's information minister while he was on a visit to London. |
| 0:50.4 | Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and one of its largest economies, but it's also grappling with deep challenges, from a rise in deadly militant attacks to the question of how to create opportunities for a young and fast-growing population. |
| 1:08.0 | In recent years, more and more young professionals have been living Nigeria, heading abroad in search of better opportunities. |
| 1:17.2 | Concerns have been raised about a growing brain drain and whether the country is losing the very people it needs to build its future. |
| 1:27.1 | The reform agenda of Mr. President is copying this issue of brain drain for the medical |
| 1:33.9 | industrialization pursued by the health sector, for example. In the past, all the pharmaceutical |
| 1:40.0 | companies just import their products into Nigeria. But now we have a stronger policy that will compel them to also set up |
| 1:49.0 | these manufacturing plants in Nigeria so that they can create jobs for our young men and |
| 1:54.0 | women to participate in that sector. |
| 1:56.0 | And I think once industrialization take hold, it will be necessary that we have people staying more at home |
| 2:04.6 | than going out of the country. |
| 2:06.2 | And indeed, you see young Nigerian people working in the fine tech and making waves around |
... |
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