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SSECURITY ANALYST IDENTIFIES FOUR KEY FACTORS DRIVING INSECURITY IN NIGERIA
Dr. Kabir Adamu, Managing Director of Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited, has identified four key factors contributing to the surge in insecurity in Nigeria.Dr. Kabir Adamu, Managing Director of Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited, has identified four key factors contributing to the surge in insecurity in Nigeria.In a recent interview, Adamu cited political, socio-economic, environmental, and security factors as the main drivers of insecurity in the country.According to Adamu, the current administration’s lack of inclusivity in governance has led to widespread discontent, which has manifested in various forms of criminality.”The current administration has not run an inclusive government,” he said. “Those people who feel aggrieved and who feel insecure can be a factor in determining the next elections.”Adamu also highlighted the impact of socio-economic policies on the country’s security situation.”Since this administration came into power, the policies that it has implemented… have created a large pool of poor persons who are finding it difficult to feed,” he explained.”The unemployment rate may have increased as a result of some of these socio-economic policies, companies especially international ones have moved away from Nigeria to other countries.”Environmental factors like climate change have also contributed to insecurity, particularly in farmer-herder conflicts. Adamu noted that “climate change and its consequences have also created a push for insecurity… The effect of climate change on food security, the effect of climate change on mining and all of that, and the intersection between mining and insecurity.”The security expert emphasised that the role of public security agencies has been inadequate, particularly outside urban centres.”If you are in urban centres, you see significant security deployment, but if you move outside the urban centres, you will see a very tiny security deployment,” he said.”The criminal elements have taken advantage of this tiny deployment and they are busy carrying out different criminality in the process, killing people.”Adamu also highlighted the importance of good governance in addressing insecurity.”Poor governance or absence of it, especially inclusive governance that is conflict-sensitive, that understands what conflict drivers are, such as land governance, such as political marginalisation and resource competition, and puts in place mechanisms to address these, is almost absent at the moment, both at the federal and state levels,” he said.When asked about the reasons why Benue and Plateau states have been particularly affected by insecurity, Adamu noted that while these states have received significant media attention, data suggests that other states, such as Zamfara, Niger, and Borno, have been more severely affected.”The topmost affected states based on our data are Zamfara, Niger, and Borno states,” he said. “And you don’t hear them that much.”Adamu emphasised that the conflict is not limited to specific regions or ethnic groups but is instead driven by criminality.”I believe we are dealing with one enemy, and the enemy is driven by criminality and nothing else,” he said.”The same enemy in Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger, Borno, Plateau, and Benue, the same enemy is driven by criminality.”He urged the media to also balance conflict reporting so as not to fit into the binary narrative that if it is not this particular ethnicity that is being attacked, there’s no space, but if it is this particular ethnicity, they are well covered.
