On the rise of violent crimes
Nigeria, fortunately, has been shielded from the huge natural disaster witnessed in most parts of the world. However, Nigeria has been experiencing man-made disasters in the guise of ethno- religious crisis. There have been several eruptions of crisis in different parts of the country emanating from intrastate and religious violence, coupled with the sporadic act […]
Nigeria, fortunately, has been shielded from the huge natural disaster witnessed in most parts of the world. However, Nigeria has been experiencing man-made disasters in the guise of ethno- religious crisis. There have been several eruptions of crisis in different parts of the country emanating from intrastate and religious violence, coupled with the sporadic act of kidnapping and dastardly killings. The most regrettable was the recent spate of bombings across the country which has claimed more than one thousand souls, including millions of naira worth of properties. Unfortunately, perpetrators of the crime have failed to see the importance of security and value for sanctity of human life.
The awful situation of insecurity in Nigeria, as a matter of fact, has led to severe wastage of investments and services, stigmatization and reduction of national population, as well as vandalism and degradation. Moreover, the situation has helped to breed an unwarranted climate of fear, which threatens the social and economic development of the country; reducing the citizen’s confidence in public institutions, government leadership and social trust.
The recent carnage in the country is purely sabotage on Nigerian government. Nigeria, from the historical scorecard, has excelled in promoting peaceful settlement of disputes and protection of lives both regionally and continentally. Ever since independence, Nigeria has made huge investments of financial , human, material and military resources to promote and assist several liberation movements in many African countries such as Namibia, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Darfur, to mention but a few. With the largest army and military budget in Africa, Nigeria is a gateway for good governance and security in West Africa, a diplomat in peacekeeping presence throughout the continent. Nevertheless, Nigeria has proudly shouldered enormous burden, financially, towards demonstrating strong leadership and outstanding commitment to international peace and security. By virtue of resource endowment, intellectual capital and proven role, Nigeria has played proven that it has the potential of occupying a leading position on the continent. It needs to be more conscious of these potentials and high expectations that the rest of African countries have for it.
The inherent crime and insecurity in the country has drastically reduced Nigeria’s status as the powerhouse of Africa. This could be attributed to multidimensional issues ranging from weak coordinated law enforcement, corruption, inequality and exclusion, counter productive justice system, lack of income, unemployment, poor leadership, lack of enabling environment and a host of others. To buttress the fact, there are no facilities or structures in place, either to checkmate the activities of the hoodlums or to protect the most vulnerable such as women and children. More so, the community members lacked the capacity and pro-activeness necessary to survive in the face of conflicts.
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has recognized crime prevention and safety as a common good and part of good governance, cross cutting issues that require holistic considerations. With the escalation of urban crime and insecurity in Nigerian society today, New Partnership for Africa’s Development, in one of its programmes recently held in Abuja, called for strengthening of peace and security for sustainable development as enshrined in NEPAD framework document. This could be done with a focus on governance for safety at both national and local level. Meanwhile, some drastic measures were enlisted to be taken towards addressing the embittered cycle of violence and to achieve lasting peace in the affected areas of the country.
Firstly, police has an important function in crime prevention exercise, being the visible front end of the criminal justice system. There is a need to create more adequate police force through community policing initiatives, opening of new stations in under-privileged areas and setting up crime prevention units in well known high-crime areas. However, it has been realized internationally, that police alone are not responsible for crime prevention, but other actors must also be included, ranging from governments to community based organizations, in partnership with police forces.
Increasingly, local governments are being identified as the backbone in crime prevention, since they are able to bring together local actors and federal government with a valuable role towards initiating and running crime prevention programmes. This is very important, fostering the constitution of community and local crime prevention councils which consists of different levels of task force – vigilante groups, opinion leaders, royal cabinet, representatives of activity centres and various relevant associations.
Nevertheless, federal government should play a leading role with its partners in creating a vision and framework in which local mobilization can take place. It has the responsibility to support different crime preventive roles in states and local governments, focusing on the criminal justice system in order to improve its functioning. It would ensure provision of adequate requirements for the forces to discharge their duties with transparency.
However, government must also address issues around crime control programmes, including in their plan; relationship, compromise and neutrality. A lot must be put in place to improve the environment and living conditions of those excluded from the society; such as empowering the youths, developing schools and other services in the affected areas; reducing prisoners awaiting trial and border control. There is also a need to initiate a new urban policy towards developing housing plan and to create recreational centres to engage idle minds and for meeting of the people when necessary.
The military is the last resort in defence of any nation. Nigerian Armed forces has been playing significant role towards ensuring maintenance of peace across the globe for years. In other words, the military, as members of the task force should not be seen as the enemy or accused of being a partisan but rather, develop a collaborative effort with the police through Joint task force to intensify action and more cooperation against the awful scene of genocide that pervades the air of Nigerian society.
Ilonze wrote from NEPAD, Nigeria