An international organisation, Global Rights, in collaboration with a Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), has lamented extrajudicial killings, insecurity and other forms of violence perpetrated by state and non state actors in Nigeria.
The CSOs identified banditry, extremist violence, farmer-herdsmen clashes, secessionist agitations, communal conflicts, extra-judicial killings, cult gang clashes, political violence and mass abductions as being responsible for the death of over 6,895 Nigerians in 2021.
Addressing the media Friday in Abuja, in Commemoration of the 2022 National Day of Mourning and Launch of the 2021 Mass Atrocities Report and Documentary organised by Global Rights, the Executive Director, Abiodun Baiyewu, said the killings were avoidable, but that there is an apparent lack of institutional capacity to guarantee public safety.
She said: “As done in previous years, our Mass Atrocities Causalities Tracking across Nigeria for 2021 measures the trajectories of the types of armed violence mentioned above, through the lens of atrocious killings and abductions.
“The numbers for 2021 are exponentially higher than that of 2020. Of the at least 6,895 persons killed in 2021, 844 of them were state security officers and 6051 civilians. Most of the security personnel killed were military personnel killed by Boko-Haram/ISWAP (277) and terrorist bandits (111).
“The third highest security personnel killings were by secessionist rebels in the South East (200). While most military personnel were killed in the North-East (Borno), and North-West (Zamfara), most police officers were killed in the South. Specifically, the South East.
“It is important to state that there are no silver bullets to ending Nigeria’s crisis of violence. There are also no quick fixes. The people and government of Nigeria will have to be deliberate and bravely commit to long term interventions to stem the tide. We reiterate the recommendations made in previous reports for stemming the tide, including strengthening Nigeria’s state institutions and governance structures, investing in human development, securing our borders, respect for rule of law, among others.”
Also speaking, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC), Mr Auwal Rafsanjani, said proactive measures needed to be put in place to prevent such atrocities from happening.
“Corruption has made it difficult for promotion of the rights of Nigerians and we all as Nigerians should not lose our lives. The government should address corruption. If you cannot have security accountability, the situation is bound to get out of hand.
“There is need to improve security accountability, create reforms, end corruption and make sure mechanism for reporting atrocities are active. There is need to also restore confidence to Nigerians especially those who report wrongdoing so that it would not backfire This will contribute to the safety of Nigerians and stop impunity,” he said.
