By Dotun Ajayi

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To tame the myriad of insecurity facing Nigeria the security architecture of the country needs to be restructured
A university teacher, Dr. Adedayo Afe gave the suggestion yesterday in Akure at a public lecture organised to mark the fourth annual memorial lecture of Ayo Omoregie, former President of Ondo State National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE.
Afe posited that the Federal government should also be more committed in addressing the issue of ethnic socio religious tension in the country.
He said right from the inception of Nigeria as a country, insecurity has remained her albatross, stressing that the experience seriously called for great concern as it has constituted the bane of development of the country since 1960.
His words: ” The emergence of militancy in Niger Delta, the OPC in the Southwest and even Boko Haram, are clear cases of reactions to perceived injustices by the ruling or the influential class against common Nigerians.”
” These victims of oppression or injustice, who either had no trust in the nation’s administrative and judicial systems or lack access to appropriate authorities and resources to bring about justice, often resolved to self help by taking laws into their hands.
” Thus, such illegal self help movements usually find ready membership in large number of unemployed youths, who are willing to be disciples and apostles of even dangerous and deadly movement as a way of sending a message to the society that has failed them.”
Afe said that insecurity has negatively impacted the economic progress of the country, reducing the production capacity of the country.
He added that insurgency in the Northeast, banditry in the Northwest and herder-farmer clashes in other parts of the country have all continued to weaken the country’s agricultural and industrial sectors in term of production capacities.
“The deliberate destruction of farmlands coupled with climatic factors have put Nigeria on the brink of food shortage, which possibly may graduate to famine if not checked,” he said.