Combating insecurity through attitudinal change
The last phase of the year 2018 saw Nigeria’s financial watchdog, Economic and Financial Crime Commission launch an unending war against the trend of cybercrime in the country. Many pro-Nigeria project elites are happy about this development and many online activists even joined the anti-graft agency to run series of prolonged online campaign against the […]
The last phase of the year 2018 saw Nigeria’s financial watchdog, Economic and Financial Crime Commission launch an unending war against the trend of cybercrime in the country. Many pro-Nigeria project elites are happy about this development and many online activists even joined the anti-graft agency to run series of prolonged online campaign against the financial anomaly Nigerians now see as a form of empowerment. As usual, major Nigerians who benefit directly or indirectly from cyber fraud are up against EFCC and its allied campaigners with the opinion that the country need not fight “Yahoo boys” but they should fight politicians who made the country what it is today. Those challenging EFCC to direct their energy towards the politicians are right and those who feel cyber criminals should be dealt with are not wrong either.
This piece is to correct the attitude of people and that of the government by informing them of where we are as a nation. On a daily basis and at an exponential rate, crime is growing faster than the economy of Nigeria. As the agitation for independence of the People of Biafra continues in the southeast, ritual killings permeate the air we breathe in every part of Nigeria and it becomes a must for females across the country to safeguard their personal underwear or it will be stolen for ritual purposes. The incidence of cattle rustling is just dying and there is reverberation of herdsmen attack and killings among other vices across the regions that produce staple food for Nigerians.
As at today, the unemployment rate in Nigeria stands at 23.1 percent while underemployment rate is at 16.6 percent. It is believed that there are more persons who sit idle, engage in legal or illegal activities so as to take care of their daily needs.
As common to every other part of the country, the Federal Capital Territory experiences an exponential rise in the number of hoodlums and jobless youths walking its ever-busy streets every day. These jobless youths are in every junction in Abuja. These jobless youths take all sorts of drugs with the aim of being granted strength to carry out stressful jobs which they will not be able to do when normal. The question that begs for an answer is, “what are the people and the government doing to address these issues?”
The country might be sitting on a keg of gun powder if appropriate measures are not put in place.
The learned among the people must tow the path of honour by taking charge of their own destiny. They must, among many other things, be at the forefront of orienting the vulnerable and constantly reminding the government of things that matter. The government must also know that governance is the business of the people and without the people, governance will be a venture without capital. In the words of the Jewish council for public affairs, “cooperative efforts among community groups, city, state and federal agencies, with adequate government funding, to create youth intervention programmes offering alternatives to violent activity” is the solution to the quagmire we have found ourselves. The state and the people must take action before it is too late.
Hammed Jimoh can be reached via: [email protected]