By Babatunde Ayedoju
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The challenge of insecurity is one that Nigerians have had to battle with for a very long time. Of course, it is almost impossible to take conflict away from human societies and conflicts have been as old as man himself, but the fact remains that conflict does not have to be violent. Also, even if the conflict is violent, it should be nipped in the bud within the shortest possible time.
Unfortunately, the challenge of insecurity in Nigeria seems to have defied every solution. That is based on the belief that efforts have been made sufficiently to address the hydra-headed monster called insecurity.
About four months ago, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, convened a high-level security meeting where alarming statistics were revealed, one of them being that in just eight weeks, Nigeria had witnessed a staggering 537 cases of murder. The statistics further revealed that coupled with 141 incidents of terrorism/secessionist attacks, 26 cases of armed robbery, 214 instances of kidnapping, and 39 cases of unlawful possession of firearms were recorded.
However, it was further disclosed that of all those cases of crime, 3,685 suspects were apprehended and 401 kidnapped victims rescued, a development that was attributed to the valiant efforts of the country’s law enforcement agents battling against a rising tide of criminality.
Unfortunately, despite concerted efforts being made by various law enforcement agencies in the country, violent crimes, perpetrated by anti-state actors, have continued to undermine the peace and security of the nation.
For example, in April this year, residents of Irele, in Irele local government area, Ondo State, reportedly raised an alarm over the rising attacks on their community where some residents were said to have sustained various degrees of injury and destruction of farmlands by suspected hoodlums. Some of those residents who spoke with the press back then expressed fear that the attacks had become frequent, leading a lot of them to escape to safer places.
Some of the residents, including community elders, traced the beginning of the attacks to March 2022, saying that the attacks were occasional initially. While lamenting that the frequent attacks had led to the destruction of the bridge that linked the community to its neighbours, the community members added that all efforts to enlist the help of law enforcement agencies had yielded no result.
A little more than a week ago, a farmer identified as Sunday Ayeni was found dead on his farm in Uba-Akoko, Akoko South-West local government area of Ondo State, with machete wounds on his body. That was a few days after he reportedly received compensation from some herdsmen over the destruction of his farm by cows owned by those herdsmen.
A source within the community had disclosed to journalists that Ayeni’s farm was destroyed by herdsmen a week earlier and, following the intervention of security agents and community elders, the herdsmen were made to pay an undisclosed amount to the farmer as compensation.
When, thereafter, Mr Ayeni went to his farm and did not return, a search party set out to look for him and discovered his corpse on his farm.
Meanwhile, in June this year, the Ondo State security outfit, codenamed Amotekun Corps, reported that it had prosecuted 600 suspected kidnappers, armed robbers, and other criminals within six months. The Commander of the outfit, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, had made this revelation while parading 48 suspected criminals in Akure, the state capital.
Their criminal activities, according to Adeleye, spread across “kidnapping, stealing of cows, attempted murder, fraud and illegal counterfeiting of money, cultism, illegal migration and stealing of planks, burglary, arson, anti-grazing activities and vandalization of critical government assets.” He said that the suspects were arrested during the corps’ Operation ‘Safe-ground’ security exercise in the state.
The big question then is, what can be done to stem the tide of violence and crime in our society, alongside efforts that have been made already? Likewise, what could even be the reason why past efforts seem not to have yielded much results?
Dr Salman Adisa, a psychologist, identified poverty, lack of proper education, and corruption as factors responsible for the lingering trend of crime and violence in our society.
His words: “The poverty level is increasing daily. Even people who don’t want to commit a crime will not know when they will dabble in it. Take for instance, how many families can feed comfortably? Their children are not well catered for. People now do what is unimaginable because their income is nothing to write home about.
“Many Nigerians now are semi-educated. If I know my right and you know yours, we won’t need to commit crimes; but someone who doesn’t know his/her right would simply join the bandwagon to do whatever they are doing.”
Talking about how corruption has contributed to the problem, Dr Adisa said that corruption starts from the home where there are no more values. He said, “A father tells his child, ‘Come and do this thing for me; I will give you money.’ Why are you bribing the child to make him do something for you? That is the same mindset people carry to the workplace. That is the highest level of corruption, and it leads to violence and crime.”
To nip the problem in the bud, he recommended that the government should do everything possible to reduce the level of poverty in the land because people are still hungry. “Also, in recruiting people into law enforcement agencies, merit should be placed above all forms of sentiment,” he added.
Likewise, Dr. Mrs. Kemi Adebola, a sociologist, noted that the reason crime and violence are thriving is that such activities bring the perpetrators much money, saying, “Anything you do that brings money without much stress becomes difficult to stop without serious enforcement and security checks.”
She also stated that when crime has been allowed to linger like what we currently have in Nigeria, it is not easy to stop it, just like when you light a fire and don’t put it out on time.
However, while noting that the collaboration of the police with local vigilantes had yielded results, Dr Adebola suggested that the government should intensify its efforts, insisting that no social problem is beyond solution, given the right environment.
“In Nigeria, a lot of money is voted for security. If only we could be more faithful to it, the problem would be solved,” she said.