A public affairs analyst, Achike Jide, has stressed that the federal government has lost control of the country’s security situation with the ease which bandits carry out attacks.
He said he believed government was not doing its best in fighting insecurity across the country especially in Northern Nigeria despite military engagements considering that bandits kidnap with ease schoolchildren and demand ransom.
The public affairs analyst said: “The government has lost control of the security situation in this country. If you do survey of Nigerians I want to believe as much as 75 to 80 per cent of Nigerians who are informed will tell you the government does not have what it takes (to fight insecurity)”.
He further said: “There’s no institution that has not been attacked in the country in the past six years. Before then we had the bombings in Abuja. Now the NDA (Nigerian Defence Academy) has been attacked. Military bases have been attacked (and) soldiers killed”.
He said he believed the government was not doing its best in fight against insecurity adding that the government had failed to keep the country secure.
He said that it was the responsibility of government to fight insecurity and not for individual states to wage war against insecurity.
He said that the solution to insecurity would be to arm communities but said if the government was worried it should plant security men among the civilian population in communities to fight bandits. He also said civilians should be recruited.
He however said that states should be encouraged to take on more active role in the fight against insecurity to protect lives and property.
Asked if residents in Jos, Plateau State should continue to pray for protection the analyst said that perhaps they should continue to pray for protection from God since the government had failed to protect them.
If man will not defend you perhaps God will defend you, he said.
He expressed concern Nigerians should be saved from harm’s way as result of attacks by bandits especially in northern Nigeria.
He said: “In the North-East alone in the past 12 years of insurgency about 350,000 people have been killed many of them children”.
Jide was speaking in radio interview on Nigeria Info 92.3.
He accused leaders in Northern Nigeria of being negligent over the crisis in the region and said that the federal government should take the crisis in the region seriously.
