The state of insecurity in Nigeria today is worrisome. A situation where bandits kill with impunity, terrorists and other criminal elements strike with the speed of lightening and kidnap for ransom and eliminate un-cooperating victims with ease; so-called unknown gunmen are making life unbearable while armed herdsmen remorselessly rape, kill farmers, destroy farms and occupy ancestral lands in parts of the country.

Whole communities have been sacked in Benue, Niger, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara states while Southern Kaduna has become the epicenter of killing for years now even as kidnapping for ransom, cultism, ritual murders and unknown mindless gunmen ravage the Southern states. It is such a terrifying state of insecurity that nowhere is safe any longer; no class or institution is secured in a country where bandits could extend their dastardly operations to the nation’s leading military institute, the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna.

The terrorists seemed to have tactically spread their fangs beyond the Bornu axis where Boko Hara and ISWAP are being frontally confronted with minimal success, despite government’s assurance six years ago that “Boko Haram has been technically defeated.” Recently an affected Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom described the situation as a state of war, remonstrating that it is really unfortunate “that I have over 1.5 million IDPs in Benue State out of the projected 7 million populations. And more than 80 per cent of the IDPs are farmers, which earned us the appellation – the ‘Food Basket of the nation’.

As if that is not enough, every day you wake up to the news that the Fulani have decided to make life unbearable for my people. They have taken over the ancestral lands of the 1.5 million IDPs that have been chased away from their homes.” Baroness Caroline Cox, Independent Member of the House of Lords and Founder-President of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, who carried out a fact-finding empirical survey of the North Central through her NGO, said that Nigeria is at a breaking point. In the wake of the audacious attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train which, despite the official death casualty of eight, leaves the whereabouts of 168 passengers unaccounted for, some retired generals have come out to condemn the rising death of soldiers in the hands of superlatively armed terrorists and bandits. They said greater responsibility in a war of this nature lies with the intelligence agencies.

Another averred that the security infrastructure and strategy of execution as presently constituted cannot successfully overcome the current state of insecurity. He suggested that the system has to be re-examined, redesigned and rejigged for operational efficiency. But most disturbing to both the foreigners and distraught locals is that there is no record of arrests, lest prosecution of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes in northern states, especially the herdsmen that execute their unabated attacks and chase victims away by force of arms, which other citizens are not, privileged to possess.

In the south, criminal elements are arrested and prosecuted. But more drastic measures are required to protect life and property and instill confidence in the populace. Even as this editorial was being crafted, there were reports of brazen attacks in Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Ebonyi and Imo state, where the residence of the Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice was razed by “unknown gunmen.”

While insecurity has always been a problem in the country, it has never exacerbated to such a devastating dimension where everyone, irrespective of class and fortune, feels unsafe and insecure both at home and on the road. It has defied the ethno-religious cum partisan conspiracy theories that were canvassed before and immediately after the 2015 general election. It has become a source of concern to the organised private sector and the international community.

Just last week, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the state of insecurity in Nigeria weakens investor confidence, noting that its effects on Nigeria remain profound and multidimensional. Furthermore, a federal minister confessed that the government is under pressure as some African nations are making overtures to foreign companies in Nigeria to relocate to their countries. The Chambers, therefore, advised the president to convene a National Council of State meeting to deliberate ways of tackling the increasing tide of nationwide insecurity. Within the week, Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Lucky Irabor, had warned terrorists troubling Southern Kaduna that their days are numbered. Good talk, but is that enough to restore hope to a people where in some quarters over 100 persons were being killed following repeated attacks.

Various reasons have been adduced, including the land mass in some affected states, weakness on the part of government even as some critics finger the political elite as sponsors of the bandits. Yet, the Federal Government which earlier said it is not overwhelmed, turned around over the weekend to blame the social environment as a reason why the military cannot checkmate the blood-letting terrorists and bandits. But the spokesman was silent on the failure of security in the other areas of crime that has hindered farming, transportation of food items across the country and the horror of kidnapping on highways that had made nonsense of the much-touted investment on railways.

Against the foregoing backdrop, the President and Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, must realise that the Federal Government under his watch is constitutionally duty-bound to protect the life and property as well as investment of the citizens that elected him into office. Besides, the issue of insecurity featured prominently in his campaign and he gave several assurances that he is capable of tackling the menace faster and more strategically as a trained soldier.

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