THE MENACE OF INSECURITY AND YOUR ROLE IN THE SOLUTION. PART 1

Some time ago while talking with one of my Dad’s friends, he mentioned something I held, he said “back then, we usually left our house door open for the remaining of our friends to come in, in case they wanted to eat. But now, nobody can do that”. That you are presently thinking “I wish” tells you how much the country’s security has deteriorated over the years

According to BBC News, Nigeria is faced with an unprecedented wave of different but overlapping security crises – from kidnapping to extremist insurgencies – almost every corner of the country has been hit by violence and crime. This insecurity has eaten deep into our bones that it is now considered normal. 

If a citizen that is quietly traveling from one state to another gets kidnapped, attention will be shifted from the fact that the insecurity in the nation caused it and focus on “why did he/she travel in the night’? Is that Normal? Freedom of movement in a paper only!!!!!!!!!!  No state is safe, nobody is safe!!

Except in the case of national emergency, Nigerians should be free to travel to wherever they want to go to and at whatever time but that is far from the reality we are experiencing. During the daytime or when the sun is down, in your house or outside, nobody is safe. Even inside your apartment, you still have to double-check and be sure your doors are well closed

The Chibok girls’ kidnap took place in their schools in 2014, the 300 male students kidnap took place in their schools in  Kankara, the random kidnap of civilians along Abuja-Kaduna Express road just to mention a few!!!!!!!

The safe place my Dad’s friend said they could leave their door open without any fear has become a BATTLEGROUND. Security has become a “you blink you lose” affair

According to TheCable, the number of Nigerians that were reported to have been killed as a result of insecurity in 2020 using the data sourced and analysed by them is three thousand, three hundred and twenty-six. That is the number of Nigerians that lost their life in 2020 and this information is just based on the data TheCable was able to get. What about that traveler that was kidnapped and killed without any news? Or the orphan that lost her/his life but didn’t have anybody to report the news? Or the children that lost their lives due to insurgency without any proper record? How many Nigerians really lost their lives due to insecurity and we can not track due to lack of proper record!!!!!!!!

The first duty of every government is SECURITY!!!! Without security, nothing else will stick!!!! No job can be enjoyed if everytime, citizens are trying to analyzed if that is the sound of a gun or a door, No educational progress can be made if the ones whom you created the education for are scared to go out, even the medical health will only have one function which is to receive the ones affected by insecurity either on their BED SPACE  for injured/sick people or in their Mortuary

Is this the nation we want to leave for future generations? The country where you cannot sleep with two eyes tightly shut? Can there be an end to this insecurity? Can we have a government more interested in  the security of Nigerians?

As many as these questions are, one solution quickly springs to mind, which is to select leaders who will make effective security of the country and its citizens a constant priority. However, history has shown us that this solution is easier said than done. So, the responsibility, as unconventional as it might seem, rests on the shoulders of you and I.

A lot of “Can we question” grows through one’s mind but only action and active participation can make it a “Yes we can” answer. What actions do we need to take to ameliorate the security situation of our immediate environs and bring relative peace back to this country?. Please come around next week for the second part of this article to find practical answers to this question and more.

 

Picture from Wikimedia Commons by Bailzeee under CC-BY-SA-4.0

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