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“Rising Insecurity in Nigeria: Causes and Solutions”
The need for security was the basis of the social contract between the citizens and the state, with that been said, security should be a fundamental right and entitlement for every citizen in which people willingly surrendered their rights to the government who oversees the survival of all. From this perspective, security embodies the mechanism put in place to avoid, prevent, reduce, or resolve violent conflicts, and threats that originate from other states, non-state actors, or structural sociopolitical and economic conditions. Security is vital for national cohesion, peace and sustainable development. Insecurity to me is defined as a breach of peace and security; whether historical, religious, ethnic, regional, civil, social, economic, and political that contributes to recurring conflicts, and leads to wanton destruction of lives and property.
Of recent times our beloved motherland, Nigeria has been Bewildered with a series of Major security challenges Nigeria that one used to be a haven for most people citizens and foreigners as well, has of recent time become a hotspot, that the united states and a few other countries have had to issue a red-flag warning to its citizens on travelling to some parts of the country. Ranging from kidnapping, armed banditry, killings, abductions and of course terrorist attacks these and many other constitutes of the major form of insecurity we are facing today as Nigerians, the Federal Government has equally tried their best to curb the Menace by deploying quite several security personnel to this hotspots, but these evil perpetrators have since decided not to let peace reign. looking back about some 8 years ago the major security challenges we used to have was the Boko Haram terrorists Which invaded the northeastern part of Nigeria via Lake Chad which have been rumoured to have allied with the famous Islamic state (isis) supplying them with Logistics, arms and ammunition, Manpower, training and mode of operation. With their notable attack to be the abduction of about 200 innocent schoolgirls in Chibok, and most recently the kidnapping and killing of the CAN President of Adamawa State. This notorious sect which was known to majorly inhabit the North-eastern part of Nigeria (Sambisa forest), especially Maiduguri and Adamawa, has gone ahead to terrorize other parts of the North-Western States in Nigeria namely Katsina, Zamfara, Kano and Kaduna using the major Forest linking Zamfara through Katsina and Kaduna known as Rugu Forest as their hideout they portray themselves as Fulani herdsmen whereas it is only a disguise to perpetuate their evil goals such as kidnapping, cattle rustling, gang-raping and all sorts of evil vices. Lately, the major security concern has been that of travellers along the Abuja-Kaduna Express Road there’s been a lot of abductions on that road and the road has been termed to be highly risky for travellers Hence the resolution to prefer the Railway mode of transportation or the Airways for those who can afford. These armed bandits kidnap innocent travellers and even kill some if their families fail to pay the Ransom requested they molest some female and even male prisoners while they are in captivity and this has been a very alarming threat to the security framework of our country.
The causes of the current spate of insecurity in the country include but are not limited to;
- Unemployment and Poverty
- High rate illiteracy among Nigerians
- Ethnicity and Religious Differences
- The consequence of corruption and unethical practice in Nigeria
- Porous Borders
- The synergy between national security and democratic rule
- Weak Security System and lack of maximisation of the security budget
- Terrorism
- The effects of rapid population growth on the economic development Nigeria
- Widespread Systemic and Political Corruption
- Poor nature and scope of economic development
- Struggle for Resources and land
- Pervasive Material Inequalities
- The growing rate of poverty and Hunger among Nigerians and many more.
- Issues of good government and accountability
Solution (The Way Out)
The only solution for the insecurity challenge in Nigeria is for the Nigerian government to govern in a way that fosters development. Development in this context consists of creating an economy with relevant social, economic and physical infrastructure for business operations and industrial growth, to provide gainful employment, functional and useful education, and quality health care for the people. Furthermore, there is a need for governments to ensure that rising poverty indices are reversed to ensure that the Nigerian meet their basic needs. Another way with which we can fight the rising Spate of insecurity used by the government to checkmate its officials I know the current administration is doing well in the fight against corruption but more work needs to be done I feel we need to implement the bottom-top approach rather than the top-bottom approach the current administration is using in fighting corruption we need to scrutinize from the Grass Roots because charity they say begins at home we need to sensitize our citizens especially the young ones on corruption and other vices so that when they grow up and hold government positions they will not have it in them to make away with public funds. Corruption is like cancer that has eaten deep into our system and it can be known to be a ripple effect because it affects every area of the economy with security topping the list during the last administration we heard about the major scam by the former minister defence who connived with some other officials to embezzle the money supposed to be for procurement of arms and ammunition for the security agencies in the fight against insurgency in the Northeast. This and other factors are some things that negatively affect the security framework in Nigeria. Another way with which I think we can solve our current security problem is by increasing the manpower and welfare of all security agencies and equipping them with modern-day combat machinery, skills and training. yes, we currently have a lot of security personnel but according to a statistics report released in 2019, we are still very much under policed as a nation most of them lack the motivation to face the insurgents we have heard of cases whereby the camps of our security forces have been attacked and they lack sufficient and modern-day combat equipment forcing them to either retreat or be outgunned. the government can partner with neighbouring Countries to exchange intelligence and information that would help in quelling the insurgency in the northeast also they can procure state-of-the-art combat helicopters and alpha jets for the Nigerian Air Force this will help in reducing the casualties of the war on our own side and assist the Military in neutralizing most of their hideouts Of these evil ones and hopefully bringing the long dragged war to an end.
Again, the state of youth unemployment in Nigeria, Boko Haram will continue to increase if necessary machineries are not put in place to combat the situation.
The Northern leaders and elders have many questions to answer on the spate of bombings in the region than blaming Jonathan’s leadership at the central. It is sad that a top political leader once said that Boko Haram members are well- equipped than the Nigerian security agencies. In other words, our Nigerian security agencies are in total failure. Even the federal government declaring states of emergencies to those troubled northern states have not prevented Boko Haram attacks.
in conclusion how the instruments of internal security are those agencies vested with the responsibility of internal security of any given country. The instruments can be divided into two categories namely the coercive and non-coercive. The coercive instruments are the armed forces (the Army, Navy and air force and the Nigerian police force). The non-coercive instruments are those agencies whose activities must of necessity not attract public attention. These are State Security Service (SSS), the Custom and Exercise Department, the Immigration Department, the Nigerian Prison Service, the Federal and State Fire Service, the Security Unit of Cabinet Office, the Judiciary, Civil Defense and the Federal Road Safety Corps Marshal and some established by some state government in South East, West and South-South. The political use of the above agencies and paucity of funds have distorted their functions. The military is capable but it is primarily trained to protect the territorial integrity of the nations. In a situation where they have been invited, it has been tragedies because of the impact of their mortal shell! While the Nigerian police in spite of the change of symbols to policing with integrity. The public perception of their role has hardly changed it is evidence that Nigerian police are poorly trained and poorly equipped. The society is very hostile to them. They are yet to be trusted! Road users are intimidated to pay tithes at roadblocks. The police commission can still do something. With the above points in minds, I recommend that: Orientation of the armed forces on coercive and non-coercive force should be constantly embarked upon. The proper and more modern way of security management networking as adopted by some advance state of the world may be adopted. There is the urgent need for the government to address and tackle the issue of poverty, hunger, quality education, population growth, and crime, underdevelopment corruptions in the private and public institutions.
Victor Aina,
10/03/2020
