The present security situation in the country is posing great challenges to the Federal Government, the Security Agencies and indeed Nigerian citizens in general. No day passes without one form of terrorists’ operation or the other, the unity and peace of the nation is at stake and the masses are at the mercy of Boko Haram, Shi’ite and other insurgent groups.
The government is trying her best to meet up with these challenges but more has to be done to guarantee the safety of Nigerians. The opposition and enemies of peace are capitalizing on the insurgency to rubbish the transformational agenda of the present administration.
INTRODUCTION
Despite the government’s huge investment in national security, safe guarding lives and properties across the country remains an uphill task. Aside the worrisome incidents of increase in religious extremism and terrorism, natural/man-made disasters such as flooding continue to threaten the nation’s economic development.
Meanwhile it is instructive to note that the Government’s determination to mitigate the country’s disaster stands a risk of being derailed unless due prominence is given to the reformation of the National Agencies.
NATIONAL SECURITY ASSESSMENT
Nigeria’s security can be best described as both parlous and precarious. The causative factors of this sad state of affairs which are not limited to are not too farfetched from the following:
- Weak and failing infrastructure nation-wide
- Inequity in the allocation of resources
- Porous and unmanned borders/influx of foreign syndicates
- Growing religious intolerance, extremism and terrorism
The country today is paying a high price for these distortions that took their roots since independence, although programmes may have provided some palliative, there is still serious concern over the state of the infrastructure in all parts of the country.
While there are naturally caused floods that would have occurred from time to time that natural systems could mostly handle, our development of a lot of the landscape and inaccurate town planning have led to an increase in floods. Floods can be caused by a breaking or failure of infrastructure that can cause large quantities of water to flood a local area.
The northern axis of Nigeria is presently locked in battle, so to say, with religious extremists who are more of products of age-long illiteracy, ignorance and unemployment than any perceivable logical or acceptable ideology.
In sum, the indices and parameters of disaster and emergency management point to worsening threats to live and properties in the days and years ahead. Therefore, the imperative for urgent sustainable measures by the national agencies to stem the tide of growing insecurity and emergencies must be brought into perspective.
THE ANTIDOTE:
Realizing that security is a collective effort, the government and private organizations has to be in the fore-front towards tackling the security menace that had bedevilled our nation in recent times. The government needs to create more security awareness, the private companies have to organize and participates in more security exhibition and summits.
With the present challenges, each individual is the country’s partner in the prevention and procedures of disaster control emergency situations.
#MEMBA11
Big Data Concept.