President Bola Tinubu’s vow to defend Nigerians from terror and all forms of criminality threatening the peace and stability of the country is commendable. The President, who said this in his May 29 inauguration speech, listed security as a top priority of the administration, stressing that neither prosperity nor justice can prevail amidst insecurity and violence. To effectively tackle the menace, Tinubu stated that he would reform the country’s security doctrine and its architecture.
“We shall invest more in our security personnel, and this means more than an increase in number. We shall provide, better training, equipment, pay and firepower,” the President promised. There is no doubt that insecurity is a major challenge to peace and development of the country. Since the advent of Boko Haram insurgency in the North East in 2009, Nigeria has witnessed upsurge in insecurity. Consequently, schools, hospitals, worship centres and other soft targets have been attacked, leading to loss of life and property. Other regions in the country have not been spared the menace. The North West has been in the throes of terrorism and banditry. In the North Central, incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen have resulted to killings and destruction of farmlands. In the South West, kidnapping and other crimes have been on the rise. Militants are on the prowl in the South South while killer gunmen have terrorised the South East.
According to data from the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST), a project of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Africa programme, about 63,111 Nigerians were killed during the administration of the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari. The report indicated that the deaths arose from terrorism, banditry, herders/farmers clashes, communal crises, cult clashes, and extra-judicial killings among others.
A breakdown of the killings by geo-political zones showed that the South-West region recorded no fewer than 2,170 deaths within the period, with Ekiti having 109; Ondo, 340; Osun, 198; Ogun, 507; Oyo, 310; and Lagos, 706.
Not less than 3,688 deaths were recorded in the South South region with Akwa Ibom State having 373; Bayelsa, 350; Cross River, 685; Delta, 720; Edo, 463; and Rivers, 1,097. In the South East region, Abia recorded 249 killings; Anambra, 613; Ebonyi, 562; Enugu, 273; and Imo, 574, thus making a total of 2,271. The North Central region, including the Federal Capital Territory, recorded a total of 8,593 deaths with Benue topping the list with 2,771; Niger, 2,572; Plateau, 1,709; Kogi, 654; Nasarawa, 320; FCT, 317; and Kwara, 250. The North East region recorded the highest number of deaths with a total of 23,106. Borno State recorded 18,213 deaths; Adamawa 1,853; Yobe, 1,375; Taraba, 1,335; Bauchi, 169; and Gombe 161. About 13,590 persons were killed in the North West region.
Up till the last month of the administration, there were killings in different parts of the country. Between May 15 and 16, about 130 persons were killed, 1,000 buildings burnt and 22 villages sacked in disturbances in Mangu and Riyom Local Government Areas of Plateau State, according to reports by the State’s chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). In Benue, the killings took different dimensions with some of the victims, including women and children said to have been beheaded and their remains burnt alongside their houses and food barns.
Due to the rising insecurity, some Western nations issued travel advisories to their nationals in Nigeria. The insecurity also accounted for the country being consecutively ranked alongside Iraq and Afghanistan among the most terrorised nations of the world. Similarly, foreign direct investments were also affected as investors stayed away from the country. Some firms in the country even relocated to neighbouring countries or closed shops entirely, leading to the rise in unemployment. Food supply chains were disrupted, resulting to the high level of hunger in the land.
It is good that the President has identified insecurity as a major challenge that must be quickly tackled. The President should go ahead and tackle the challenge. After all, the primary function of government is the security and welfare of the people. Let the President put necessary measures in place to address the challenge. For the government to do this effectively, there is need to train and retrain the security agents. Let them be adequately mobilised to do the job. There is need for enhanced intelligence gathering and sharing among the security agencies.
The President should give attention to the clamour for state policing. We say this because every crime is local. It takes residents of a particular locality to identify strangers and criminal elements among them. There is also need to inject fresh blood into the leadership of the various security agencies in the country.