Rising insecurity having negative effects on Nigeria – Folarin

The Chairman Senate Committee on Local Content, Senator Teslim Folarin, has alerted that the statistics of insecurity in Nigeria is rising in ‘great geometric proportions’.

Senator Folarin said this in
Ibadan while delivering the 2021 University of Ibadan Alumni Association Oyo state branch lecture entitled: “The Challenges of Governance and Security in Nigeria,” held at the University of Ibadan.

According to the Senator representing Oyo Central senatorial district, the rising insecurity is already having negative effects in and across the country which are facts but were dangerously familiar.

Senator Folarin noted that there was the need for all and sundry in the country to rise up to the challenges of stemming the rising spate of insecurity by working together as patriotic citizens and leaders to stem the dangerous tide.

“It is very clear that the statistics of insecurity in our country is rising in great and geometric proportions. We are all witnesses to the negative effects of insecurity in the land. These include incidents and cases of kidnapping, armed robbery, violence and other acts of insurrection”, he said.

Folarin added, “from daily reports, news items, and personal experiences of victims of terror, the threats to security is no doubt a daily occurrence in Nigeria. And we must work together as patriotic citizens and leaders to stem the dangerous tide”.

“There are more out-of-school children than ever before. There are more deaths from terrorist attacks and organized crimes than previous years. There are rising incidences of kidnapping, even of school children and university students.

“There are cases of avoidable clashes of herders and farmers over land and resources, and there are agitations for political self-determination within the country. All these are facts but they are dangerously familiar” .

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content emphasised that putting “the security of people at the centre of governance, there will be peace and stability, and development will follow”.

“As I stated earlier, the history of security and insecurity in Nigeria goes back to the period before independence and it has gained more frightening presence, from the days of Maitatsine to the present terror of Boko Haram, and the conflicts over land and occupied territories across the country”.

He Stressed that, “we cannot stop repeating the point about how good governance and responsive security are essential for national development.

“Governance is about the management of human and resources, it is about the provision of enabling space and operations in the administration of a state or country,” he said.