EDITORIAL: Time to prioritise Nigeria’s security challenges

Nigeria, a nation teeming with potential and vibrant human capital, finds itself increasingly crippled by a deepening security crisis that threatens its very foundation. What began as a regional insurgency in the North-East has presently metastasized into a hydra-headed monster, manifesting as ubiquitous banditry, mass kidnapping, farmer-herder clashes, and separatist agitations across all six geopolitical zones. The sheer scale and multi-dimensional nature of these threats are not merely an inconvenience; they are actively unraveling the social contract between the state and its citizens, who, as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution, deserve safety and security.

The recent reported statistics—with hundreds of thousands of lives lost and millions displaced due to violence in a single year—paint a grim picture of a country under siege. The terror is no longer confined to remote forests; it is knocking on the doors of schools, highways, and even capital cities. This state of perpetual fear has devastating economic and social consequences: farmers abandon their fields, fueling a catastrophic food inflation crisis; foreign and local investments flee a volatile landscape; and the collective psychological well-being of the populace is severely damaged.

While military force is necessary, the Federal Government’s response has historically been overly reliant on kinetic approaches that address the symptoms, not the disease. The crisis is not purely military; it is fundamentally a crisis of governance, development, and social justice.

The roots of this widespread insecurity are deeply embedded. Poverty and rampant youth unemployment create a vast pool of alienated individuals susceptible to recruitment by criminal and extremist groups. When legitimate pathways to success are blocked, the ‘business’ of crime—be it banditry or kidnapping—becomes an attractive, albeit dangerous, enterprise. This is compounded by elite manipulation of ethnic and religious differences, which exploits communal fault lines for political gain, turning neighbour against neighbour, particularly in the escalating farmer-herder conflicts.

The weakness of the security apparatus itself—marred by corruption, poor funding, inadequate equipment, and a lack of modern intelligence-gathering capacity—allows perpetrators to operate with near-total impunity. A porous border system also facilitates the easy flow of arms and foreign fighters into the country, escalating the sophistication of criminal gangs.

Stemming the tide requires a radical shift from a reactive, military-centric model to a holistic, proactive security and development strategy led by the Federal Government.

The government must aggressively target the financial networks that sustain insecurity. This means tracking and freezing ransom payments and illicit profits from oil bunkering and mining. The political will to prosecute the powerful networks and individuals who profit from chaos, regardless of their status or connections, is non-negotiable.

The long-term solution lies in economic empowerment. The Federal Government must roll out genuine, massive job creation and vocational training programs for youth across all regions. This must be paired with land reform and community mediation efforts to resolve farmer-herder conflicts, protecting agricultural livelihoods and ensuring food security. The focus must be on lifting millions out of poverty and providing a viable alternative to crime.

While increasing the budget for security is crucial, the funds must be used transparently and effectively to train, equip, and motivate personnel. This includes embracing advanced surveillance and intelligence technology to predict and preempt attacks, rather than simply responding after the fact.

The recent threats by the US President, Donald Trump should, therefore, be seen as a wakeup call for the political will to be summoned by the Executive arm of government. Nobody is above the law and none, no matter how highly-placed, should be spared in the fight to let Nigeria regain her peace.

Nigeria’s leadership must understand that national security is not just about the state’s survival; it is about the survival of its citizens. By addressing the twin scourges of poverty and impunity, supported by strategic security reform, can the Federal Government begin to rebuild the damaged thread of trust and pull the nation back from the precipice. The time for half-measures and rhetoric is over; the future of the republic depends on courageous, decisive action.