By Adedotun Ajayi

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Late Nelson Mandela, South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 said, “Safety and security don’t just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear”
The protection of citizens is one of the foremost responsibilities of any government, Insecurity and terrorism have been major challenges to the Nigerian government in recent times. The past few months have witnessed several reported mass kidnappings by armed bandits.
December 11, 2020 about 500 boys from a boarding school in Kankara, Niger State were abducted, The occurrence raised nationwide concern. Few months later, 23 staff and students of Greenfield University, a higher institution in Kaduna State, were kidnapped. The school management and parents of the affected students raised a sum of N15 million to appease the kidnappers and secure the release of their children.
At this time, there is a call on the Nigerian government to take to heart the security of the nation’s citizens and put to action strategies that would see a huge decrease in insecurity-related cases.
All the cases of insecurity in Nigeria beg the question: Do we need more security personnels?
As part of measures to curb the rising cases of insecurity in the country, Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku, suggested that members of the National Youth Service Corps should be allowed to undergo military training, in order to know how to handle guns.
The governor said, “When the security can’t protect you, then something in the alternative must come in, we must be practical. Train people, give them practical induction, let them know what to do.
“The NYSC I will say should be two years. One year for compulsory military training and the other year for the social works that they are doing now so that anybody who graduates as an NYSC person can know how to handle the gun and defend himself or just as it is done in Israel, Lebanon and other places, you must engage your citizens to be proactive. When you cannot provide security, you must allow the people to protect themselves.”
He lamented that bandits and terrorists terrorising people, wreaking unimaginable destruction and unprintable bloodshed in the North-East are being sponsored by some influential persons.
The governor also asked the federal government to train those residing in border communities on how to use guns so that they can protect themselves against banditry and kidnapping.
Ishaku said such communities should not be left to the whims and caprices of gunmen, if the government can’t protect them.
“I will still request the federal government that those who are at the border regions and those villages that are hard to reach, should be taught how to use guns to protect themselves,” he said.
“You can’t leave human beings like that at the whims and caprices of somebody who moves with an AK-47. This is wrong. They should train 10 or 20 people in each village along the axis of the boundaries.”
On the contrary, Khalid Okunade, a legal luminary said “corp members shouldn’t be armed, but rather should be scrapped. People have always clamoured for its scrapping, but the need for that is even more evident in our present condition, because the issue of insecurity is getting out of hand. I don’t think equipping these young lads with a weapon is the next in line for this country, we should rather strengthen our security architecture. But if the scheme is scrapped, people will lose their jobs and the critics of this administration will still lament about how the government has made things worse for people.”
“Meanwhile, military should be voluntary and they shouldn’t force anyone to join”
According to Ayo Olupona, political scientist and public speaker, said “If the country decides to train corp members with guns, then what use is the military and paramilitary?
In my own opinion, I think insurgency have big time sponsors whom have grown beyond the government or that are in government, as security and government can’t lay hands on them. Take for example, Nnamdi Kanu was apprehended with a lot of intelligence, that same concept should be used in our own native land here and fish out these people that have made it their sole aim in making sure we don’t have peace in this country”
Ibukun Adewa, a businessman said “Terrible idea and not something I would recommend. Talking about training students to fight criminals. It probably works in Israel and Lebanon, but certainly not in Nigeria. Corp members shouldn’t be looked at as the pool for recruitment of prospective soldiers. A better solution will be for the army to conscript corp members who are willing to join the army, immediately after they leave camp. Joining the military should be voluntary. They would gladly remain in the military after discovering their competence in the military and they would move the military forward with their knowledge.”
Ayoola Babajide, a legal practitioner said, the Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku has a point, but should not be particular to NYSC alone. Everyone needs to learn the art of self defense including handling and using fire arms effectively in today’s Nigeria, when you look at many cases of kidnappings and banditry, you will realize that if majority of Nigeria citizens are well trained, many of such wouldn’t have occurred. Take for example, if farmers are trained on how to handle firearms, they would be able to save guard their farms, let us collectively secure our country”