Not too long ago, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu shocked the nation when he reeled off some heart-breaking facts about the number of Nigerians killed in the first quarter of this year.
According to the IGP, between January and the end of April, 1,071 people had lost their lives in crime-related incidents.
But the depressing news does not just stop with those that have lost their lives. Adamu said no fewer than 685 persons were also kidnapped across Nigeria.
Speaking at a recent stakeholders’ meeting in Kaduna, the IGP said 767 of the persons killed were from the North.
Giving a further breakdown of the deaths, Adamu said the North-West topped the death list with 436; North-Central placed second with 250; while the South-South recorded 130 deaths during the period under review.
He added that Zamfara State with 203 murder cases topped the national prevalence rate, Kaduna State followed closely with 112 reported cases while 90 people were killed in Benue State.
Sadly, since making the chilling pronouncement on May 1st, killings and other acts of criminality have continued unabated across the country. It is sad that in spite of the billions of naira appropriated to the various security agencies every year, the situation is yet to improve. It is also very disheartening that the same people in charge of the various security and military outfits are still at their duty posts when it is obvious that they have failed to adequately deliver on their core mandates of protecting lives and properties.
Two months ago, the world woke up to hear of the dastardly terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka and within a few days the heads of the nation’s security apparatus, including the Deputy Minister of Defence and Chief of Police were relieved of their duties. They were held responsible for the attack which lead to the death of more than 250 people and left more than 500 injured.
Of course we are not saying that relieving the security chiefs of their duties will automatically stop insecurity across the land, but it will at least allow for a fresh set of people to come up with new ideas and zeal in tackling the security challenges.
Besides, in this day and age of advanced technology the era of just throwing men and money at the problem is no longer a solution; but rather a multifaceted approach should be employed.
In fact a famous saying by the late German-born theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein that: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”, should be an eye opener to the Presidency and our security agencies that doing the same thing over and over again will not bring improvement in the security situation in the country.
This is one path that we can ill afford to tread.
The newly-sworn-in governors should see the mandates given them by the people in the last election as a chance to reassure them that they did not vote wrongly; by making security issues their number one priority.
The governors should realise that the only way they can attract businesses to their states is to ensure peace and tranquillity, which in turn will also reduce the unemployment rates, which is one of the things fuelling insecurity across the country.
It is believed that economic prosperity is only possible where there is peace. The governors should come up with innovative ways of tackling the high rate of unemployment in the system.
Our governors also need to know that their positions come with great responsibilities and as such when need be they should not shirk away from their constitutional responsibility of signing the death warrants of criminals if found guilty; as this will not only serve as a deterrent but also show that they mean business.
We also call on President Muhammadu Buhari to take a cue from Einstein’s observation and use the opportunity of his fresh mandate to rejig the security apparatus in the country. In as much as the present ones have tried their best, it is obvious that there is clearly room for improvement.
We believe that this improvement can only be enhanced through fresh ideas which new security chiefs will bring to the equation.
Beyond ensuring that round pegs are put inside round holes, those charged with keeping citizens safe should also make sure that culprits arrested in the course of operations should be properly prosecuted so as to serve as deterrent to other would-be-criminals.
Citizens are also not left out in the fight against insecurity as they have a role to play by not harbouring criminals and reporting suspicious activities of questionable individuals to authorities.
