National Security: Group Calls for Community Involvement in Order to Improve Security in Nigeria

Daily Rendezvous

Rhamo media, the organisers and conveners of a book launch and round table discussions on the state of security in Nigeria, has called for the inclusion of communities in the security architecture of the country in order to improve state of security in the country.

The group said untill security becomes the task of all Nigerians, the country will never know peace and the country's security situation will remain deplorable.

The event which drew participants from all sections of the community, noted that the fast rising state of kidnappings, banditry, terrorism, among other security nightmares in the country requires that all Nigerians become security conscious and work together with government to defeat the security challenges in the country.

This was made known at a one-day Seminar on Personal Security, Threat Assessment and Counter Measures, held in Yola, Adamawa State.

At the book launch, on Personal Security: Threat Assessment and Counter Measures, which has participants drawn from the police, military, civil defence corp, NGOs, women groups, the media, among others, discussed the deplorable security situation in the country and called for the involvement of locals, and Community members in order to solve Nigeria's security challenges.

While reviewing the book, written by Onoja Adotse, Dr. John Ngamsa, said, its high time that Nigerians take their personal Security seriously as an important step towards improving national security.

Ngamsa said, "We are all under threat by the current security situation in the country and until we all take our individual security seriously, Nigeria will not be safe.

"No country is safe until individuals in the society take personal security seriously because national security begins from individual security.

"This book has offered a way out to our current national security crisis and everyone in Nigeria should study its content and adopt it to his or her life and it has also challenged us to contribute our thoughts and energy to protecting our country and the people in it."

Speaking during a round table discussion, Dr. Lionel from American University of Nigeria said, we cannot subscribe to the opinion to begin to defend ourselves, if everyone takes arms, we would end up with a chaotic society.

He noted that we must trust the system, support and strengthen our security apparatus to carry out its duty.

Veno Yongo, also a penalist at the event put forward that, at the root of all security situations in Nigeria, is the issue of poverty. 

He notes that, the Nigerian government has failed in keeping to its side of the social contract which mandated it to protect it's citizens. 

Veno said, "It is the responsibility of governments to protect its citizens and the fact that terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, among other security challenges have become the order of the day, means our political class are not living up to expectations.

"Nigerians need to feel safe and government need to show that it is aware of its responsibility and is committed to doing it, because, we are gradually becoming a failed state."

Abdullahi Ahmed, a media practitioner and a panelist, observed that, the pressure on media by the government, challenging its review of daily Newspapers is alarming and calls for concern.

Ahmed notes that, the media is the link between the public and daily happenings in the country, hence the media is already doing an awesome job and should be commended.

He also notes that, the Nigerian Media has myriads of challenges already in the process of gathering and reporting news, hence, the demands by media governing bodies like National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) could be an attempt to mount pressure on the media, thereby influencing its content.

Musa Shalangwa, while contributing his quota to the discourse said, its high time that the concept of state policing should be considered and Nigerians be allowed to bare lawful arms for self defense.

Shalangwa notes that, the most peaceful countries in the world, statistics shows, are countries with the highest rate of personal gun ownership, hence, it is just logical that Nigerians own gun, to protect themselves against possible kidnappers.

The seminar on personal security, hosted by Rhamo media, called for a serious and genuine consideration for state policing and for the involvement of locals at the grassroots in security set up of the country, so as to identify security challenges from the onset before it deteriorates.