Resolving Our Security Challenges - by Badeeya Maiyaki

It is worrisome that the general state of insecurity in Nigeria presently seems to be getting worse. As the security situation deteriorates further by the day, today is news on bomb blast, tomorrow mass murder and day after, mass abduction among others.

Security is the state of being free from danger or threat on the contrary while insecurity is the state of being open to danger or threat and lack of protection.

A few years back, we had the Niger Delta crisis, followed by the Jos ethic/religious and political conflict and now Boko Haram sect killings of innocent people and destruction of property. Nigeria was once regarded as a nation where citizens of diverse cultural heritage still enjoyed peace and sense of belonging whether they belonged to the majority or minority group; a nation blessed with so many natural resources. But the spate of insecurity in the nation has brought negative effects on the nation as the world sees Nigeria as a violent nation, which promotes fear in the minds of foreign investors and at the same time limits the peoples’ ability to develop economically.


The question begging for answer is how did these evil perpetrators get into the country with the weapons they use? Where are the security agencies at the borders, soldiers and the police at the checkpoints? It is obvious that we do not produce them; we import them.

Is it that Nigerian soldiers cannot tackle the situation after winning laurels at peacekeeping missions across the world and even driving rogue coupists from Liberia and Sierra Leone where they installed civilian administrations and of recent chased away extremists who were trying to overrun Mali? So, what is happening at home that the military can’t contain these trends?

It is a known fact that the burden of insecurity rests on the common man and innocent citizens who are mostly poor. It is worrisome that up till today, security agencies are not using some simple tracking devices to locate these evil perpetrators due to lack of state-of-the-art devices to contain or burst crime. It is not that we are not capable of purchasing these devices, but we can’t due to the fact that corruption has eaten deep into the heart of the majority of our leaders, who turn public funds into private purses, creating criminal fighting agencies everyday and enacting laws but failing to enforce or defend them.

It does not mean that the security personnel in this country are not doing anything, but there is the need to improve. They should demonstrate patriotic confidence and crack down on the criminal gang that has threatened the nation continuously.

To resolve insecurity in Nigeria, a lot of measures need to be put in place, such as employing new security policies, thinking and strategies; entrenching patriotism and professionalism in the military to ensure the government and the governed co-operate in order to handle the situation and ensure good governance in the country.

State-of-the-art weapons and technological devices should be procured for our security personnel who should be adequately trained to use such equipment. Whoever demonstrates regional, ethnic or religious sentiment to polarise the military should be punished severely.