Still On Insecurity And The Way Forward

By Tajudeen A Tijjani.

NEWSDAILYNIGERIA: Few years before he became the President and Commander -in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made a declaration in Kaduna on how he will tackle the menace of insecurity in the country, if elected .

Speaking at an occasion of the launching of Sir Ahmadu Bello library on the invitation of Arewa House, the President declared that if elected into office, he will hasten the recruitment of five million young Nigerians into the Armed Forces and two years after, its yet to become a reality.
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.Also, recently, Governor Senator Uba Sani speaking at a function, also raised an alarm, that in five years to come, people in the North may abandon their homes, because of the dimensions the insecurities in the Northern States have degenerated into .. He was quoted as saying that “Northerners may not be able to sleep in their homes in the next five years due to the insecurity”, the story has not been denied.

Although the alarm was timely, the governor as the chief security officer of the state, must find a lasting solution to the menace and be more proactive before we shall all be consumed .The Federal Government must view the governor’s statement with all seriousness and laise with him to find out why he made the fearful statement
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With reports of attack occuring almost daily in the Northern States, the governor and his colleagues in the North are seriously in need of help from the Federal Government, and wake up from their slumber.They ,Northern Governor’s can also declare a state of emergency on insecurity, and ensure that they provide security for the people over their lives and property.

For a sitting governor making such heavy statement, the Federal Government should show immediate concern on the statement and find out from him. Governor Uba Sani statement on the issue of insecurity, has put lots of fear into the people, and must be tackled with alacrity. It is a wake up call for everyone to be involved in the tackling of this monster, that appears to have developed resistance to all means.

While commending the security forces for their battles against kidnapping and banditry, much is still required from them for the nation to be on the top of the crisis. They also need to network with the natives in many of the affected areas , because many of them are afraid to give information to the security, because of the fear that it may leak to the criminals, and the reprisal may be tough on them and their family.

With the support of the locals, and giving them protection, it will become easy to identify the criminals and their sponsors and informants. We should not look at the situation as that of the North alone, if left uncrushed, it may spread to other part of the country.

The recent bombardments of the criminals’ hideouts across the country, especially in the North West zone by the security must be intensified, as many of the hoodlums are now relocating to areas where security is not fully in place, such as Kaduna, Plateau, and Niger states among others.

These criminals have become nomadic and they run to safe areas, where they now hit and run.

States goverment should now work closely with the autonomous local government in areas of security, because in some cases, the reports of bandits, kidnappers and cattle rustling are on the increase in local government areas, most especially in the villages

It has become important, therefore for the two arms of government to work together in order to reduce the monster. There are many able bodied men and women in villages that are jobless who should be drafted into neighborhood security, empowered and placed on salary, for them to secure their areas, and inform the security of any development.

Government must also consider their training in the Army and Police , including the Air Force and the Civil Defence, for short period of time not more than three months in batches, where they will acquire knowledge on how to combat crimes.