Nigeria’s security crisis is deepening with stories of incredible banditry, kidnapping and near lawlessness pervading the land. The Army, Police and security agencies appear to be looking helpless in the situation. The impunity of banditry and kidnapping is shocking. Everyday appears to come up with a new story, worse than the previous one. The most recent case of kidnapping of an unspecified number of school children in Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State stands out. The State Governor, Bello Masari announced that at least 333 school children were missing and may have been kidnapped by bandits. Federal Government spokesman, Garba Shehu claimed that “only ten” students were missing.
Only recently, government figures have put the death toll of terrorist killings in Zabarmari village in Jere Local Government Area of Borno State at 43. Unconfirmed sources put the figures at 110. It would appear that Nigeria’s security forces have lost the ability to respond to the country’s security challenges. This loss of capacity has led to calls for the sack of the nation’s security heads. Virtually every sector of Nigeria has made this call – governors of the 36 States of the Federation, National Assembly members, State Houses of Assembly, the country’s elders, political parties, civil society groups, leading national voices and the media. It is unclear why the President has refused to act on the calls from across the country for the sack of military heads.
Following the abduction of the students, residents of Katsina State took to the streets in Kankara town in protest, to demand the immediate release of the students. President Buhari who is currently on leave in his hometown, Daura in the State, merely condemned the incident.
The increasing spate of insecurity and the government’s approach to addressing the issue has further dampened the public’s confidence in the ability of the government to cater to the welfare of its citizens. It will be recalled that on Saturday, November 28, barely two weeks before the abduction of school children in Katsina, farmers were killed by insurgents in Borno State as they harvested produce on their farmland, in an attack that has been described by the United Nations as the most violent direct attack on innocent civilians this year. Widespread reports of criminal activities have become prevalent in North Eastern Nigeria, as well as in the North West region and indeed, other parts of the country, with no concrete measures on the part of the government to address the situation. Observers wonder the extent to which this unabated incidence of criminality may affect Nigeria’s territorial integrity if definite steps are not taken timeously to arrest the situation. Citizens live in fear and uncertainty with no sense of security for their lives and property. Agitations for an overhaul of the security structure, as well as calls for the sack of service chiefs which have gone unheeded, now seem to be gaining momentum as the realities of the country’s security situation set in, in the minds of Nigerians. State governors have also called for devolution of power over security institutions, to State governments to create an efficient and effective security system for the country.