What government should do about rising insecurity

Kidnapping, armed robbery and killings have been on the rise across the country with many worried about the sudden upsurge. Daily Trust Saturday sought the views of some Nigerians on what the government should do about the situation.   Eunice Nnachi, 38, Journalist, Yenagoa Security is a very delicate issue and the country at the […]

Kidnapping, armed robbery and killings have been on the rise across the country with many worried about the sudden upsurge. Daily Trust Saturday sought the views of some Nigerians on what the government should do about the situation.

 

Eunice Nnachi, 38, Journalist, Yenagoa

Security is a very delicate issue and the country at the moment is confronted with such absurd challenges, from Boko Haram in the North-East, militancy and kidnapping in the Niger-Delta and South East. Infact, every region has its own peculiar security challenges, it therefore becomes imperative for governments at all levels to bring stringent measures or ideas to ensure that the rising insecurity is curbed.

What are the governors doing with the huge security votes? I think that should be used to provide logistics for security agents.

Community policing should be encouraged. It’s difficult for security personnel who are not from the region to have fair knowledge of the terrain to operate. Deploying officers from the region will go a long way.

 

Hon. Sani Danlami, 40, Member, House of Representatives, Katsina Central Federal Constituency

The ongoing security operations should be more proactive in order to effectively neutralize the bandits rather than reactive which gives them more confidence to attack people at will. Members of the community should be involved in the fight against criminality in order to get to the root of the problem and find lasting solutions to it. Also, more technical support should be provided for security outfits in order to make their operations more effective and result-oriented.

 

Paniebi Jones, Businessman, Yenagoa

Governments at all levels are receiving security votes monthly. The surprising thing is that governments’ huge spending on security is not yielding much result as expected. I think there should be a yardstick to measure the successes or failures of these spendings. Insecurity in Nigeria is the failure of government, because if you send somebody to buy something for you and he is not returning what you bought, will you still release money for him?

The government should endeavour to draft more security personnel to the streets and they should try to identify criminal hideouts and ensure that they are flushed out.

 

Theresa Aboyi Owoicho, Media Consultant/Journalist, Kaduna

The government should develop a robust communication plan that centers on citizen-inclusion in policing to report suspicious occurrences. This can be achieved by integrating members of the community like traditional rulers and their deputies to run neighbourhood watches, with direct reporting lines to Divisional Police Officers of the nearest police stations to their communities. This will make crime fighting more preventive. Also, timeliness in reporting suspicious events and activities remains a formidable approach to fighting crime and enhancing security.

 

Hajiya Rabi Mohammed, 48, Development worker, Katsina

Government should dialogue with relevant security stakeholders as well as embark on disarmament.  Education and entrepreneurship should be given prominence for proper rehabilitation and reintegration into the society of those involved in criminality.

 

Kabir Mayanchi, Civil servant, Gusau

The government should try to fish out informants living within our communities. Informants are more dangerous than the criminals themselves. The sponsors of such organised crimes should also be fished out and dealt with.

 

Dalyop Solomon Mwantiri, 34, Legal Practitioner/Human Rights Activist, Jos

The failure on the part of governments to guarantee security of lives and property as constitutionally obligated is quite unfortunate.

It is pertinent to bear in mind that any act of criminality perpetrated for whatever consideration does not add a single utilitarian value to humanity. Government should legalize possession of light arms for self-defense provided the police are adequately empowered to control such weapons, there should be frequent cordon, search and dislodgement of suspected terrorist enclaves, there should be unbiased prosecution of all arrested criminals or offenders without attachment of ethno-religious sentiments or socio-political considerations, while deliberate effort to fish out perpetrators of crimes should be heightened.

 

Dorcas Owolabi, Business woman, Gusau

I think the government should focus on creating employment opportunities for youths for them not to slip into crimes. With this, social vices in the country will be reduced.