CSO expresses concern over dangerous trend of insecurity

Calls for national conference on best strategies to address menace

By Gabriel Ewepu – Abuja

A Civil Society Organisation, CSO, One Love Foundation, OLF, Wednesday, expressed concern over dangerous trend and dimension of insecurity across the country, especially with recent bloody attacks in Borno, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger States, with over 70 persons killed.

Speaking with Vanguard on the bloodshed, the Founder and President, OLF, Chief Patrick Eholor, said the country is currently on a dangerous and alarming proportion of insecurity that jeopardizes lives and property of Nigerians including foreigners.

Eholor said there must be an urgent strategy to address the menace and malaise called insecurity that has engulfed the country and made Nigerians apprehensive and agitated by the sad development.

He said: “The state of insecurity in Nigeria will be on the increase unless President Muhammadu Buhari effect overhaul of the nation’s security architecture.

READ ALSO: Update: Abducted students in Zamfara — Masari

“Security and insecurity are two sides of the same coin which has been misrepresented in Nigeria. Thus, a representation to reflect the reality of Nigeria is needed.

“Security is human and structural. For the most part in Nigeria, it is about the structure, and here the influence of the military in governance and in shaping the theory and practice of security cannot be ignored.

“This influence was in part the function of the international enabling environments and the interpretation and domestication in countries such as Nigeria. In defining security prior to the UNDP paradigm shift in 1994, structure rather than human beings was the focus. To that extent, insecurity has prevailed in Nigeria.”

The OLF boss also asserted that, “Insecurity affects human beings and is powered by corruption and poverty of the leadership and the followers. One such area of insecurity is setting the agenda for development. Looking at the historical trend and focusing on policies since 1999.”

He also added that, “The inability of administrations to fulfill their set agendas for improving the quality of lives of Nigerians meant there was nothing to distinguish them from a military regime. This situation not only extends distrust, it enhances insecurity.

He also pointed that, “Even though I detest tribal and religious sentiments, the generality of Nigerians can never be like me. A brief breakdown of those in charge of the security architecture of a nation of over 200 ethnic nationalities where religion and ethnicity has never been overlooked shows that a particular section of the country is totally controlling the security architecture of the nation thereby encouraging nepotism and tribalism which is a recipe for national backwardness.”

However, he (Eholor) called for a national conference where Nigerians will decide on how best to be secured, “Therefore, I urge President Muhammadu Buhari to bring Nigerians together in form of a conference for them to decide how they want to be secured because those with the responsibility to defend Nigerians have failed woefully.

“If you look at what is happening in Nigeria today, the people even have more confidence in local vigilante groups as boy scouts. So, if Buhari cannot do anything meaningful to improve the security of the nation, then the national budget should be handed to these two groups to defend the nation. Enough of their failures”

Vanguard News Nigeria

The post CSO expresses concern over dangerous trend of insecurity appeared first on Vanguard News.