The security situation in Nigeria has assumed quite frightening proportions. Newspaper reports suggest that in the first quarter of 2021 alone, a total of 323 people were killed and 949 others kidnapped in attacks by gunmen in Kaduna State. Prevailing insecurity is affecting the lives of the common people in numerous ways. In Kaduna, shops are closing early as people seek to get home before darkness falls. In Abuja, the price of fruits has risen as farmers shy away from harvesting out of fear. Inter-state transportation of goods is suffering and has even resulted in food shortages. The ripple effect on the economy is already quantifiable. At the same time, in many cities in particular in the North of the country parents worry that they should not send their children to school. As a consequence, on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic, which robbed so many children of so many hours at school, insecurity is fast resulting in a ‘lost generation’. In other words, insecurity is potentially begetting future insecurity, as that generation will find it difficult to acquire the skills they need for gainful employment.
Given this state of affairs, TAPI felt it crucial to shed light on as many of the different aspects to the security/insecurity conundrum as possible – in an effort to propose pragmatic solutions wherever possible. In this dedicated Website section you will therefore find a brace of different articles, ranging from comparative research on restructuring the police force to recommendations for a rapid-deployment National Guard, to the conclusions from the panel discussion in the maiden Grow Nigeria Conversation – which was likewise devoted to security.