WIDESPREAD insecurity has been recognized as one of the greatest challenges facing Nigeria that gnaw at the very soul of her existence in recent years. No part of the country is immune from this malady. From the extreme Northern part of the country to the coast of the Atlantic, insecurity is very prominent to the extent that farmers find it difficult to go to their farms and many businesses have relocated from the country to other safer climes.Consequently,several efforts and actions have been introduced to solve the seemingly intractable insecurity that has resulted in the loss of precious lives, valuable properties and resources that could be used to promote the development of the country.
NATIONAL Security Strategy 2019 outlines Nigeria’s security challenges under the following security threats: terrorism and extremism, armed banditry and militia group activities, farmers-pastoralists clashes, and transnational organized crimes.Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economies, is also the lynchpin of security in western Africa as it has struggled to address devastating jihadi insurgencies and terrorism by Boko Haram and the Islamic State. Insecurity has also spread to northwestern Nigeria with the farmers-herders’ conflict, which is compounded by the intensifying effects of global warming and remains dormant at best.
NO doubt, the new Tinubu administration inherited a protracted and highly unsecured country from the previous administrations in the country. However, that is not an excuse not to face the crisis headlong to reduce it and ultimately put an end to the cankerworm in all parts of the country. This is essential because of the serious effects of insecurity on all sectors of the country, some of them which have become inactive. No doubt, the prevalence of insecurity in the country has retarded and limited the growth of all major sectors of the country’s economy.
ONE area where the effect of insecurity manifests in large scale is agriculture that employs majority of Nigerians. Many farmers cannot go to farm either to plant or harvest their crops resulting in losses, food shortages and increase in food prices and food insecurity. In education, in some parts of the country, many children cannot go to school for the reason of insecurity while many people cannot travel freely in the country. Many students have been kidnapped while in schools including the Chibok girls and several others. The overall consequences have been poor production and loss of income to the people and the country at large.
THE above revealed that insecurity in Nigeria and the associated crisis that escalated in recent years instead of abating appeared to be in the increase in recent times necessitating the need for more proactive coordinated actions not just to ameliorate the evil but to ensure and guarantee an enduring peace and security for all parts of the country, to allow people carry out their normal businesses and private lives unmolested. It is therefore incumbent and compelling for President Bola Tinubu to urgently address the protracted and recurring multidimensional insecurity in the country. This is essential to improve and boost the productive base of the economy in the country that is in shambles due to widespread insecurity.
TO boost food production and ensure food security, the President must work assiduously to secure the country and her citizens. To be able to solve the problem of insecurity requires improved funding for training and equipping the security architecture in the country especially the police charged with the onerous task of internal security. It is time to decentralize the police force to have state and local governments security outfits in the country. This will enhance and promote effective policing of all parts of the country as being experienced in Ondo State with Amotekun’s activities that have drastically improved security in the state and the realization that it is possible to have local, state police along the central police in the country.
SINCE some of the security challenges in the country have been linked to poor governance and lack of economic opportunities, President Tinubu must as a matter of necessity strive to improve governance in the country and solve economic crisis bedeviling the country to create employment opportunities and income for the growing population of the youths. This is because many people indulge in crime and criminal activities because of lack of means of livelihood.