Nigeria will soon overcome its security challenges – Dogara
Story from Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has expressed optimism that Nigeria will soon overcome its security challenges, saying that there is no nation on earth that has not been tried or tested as every one of them had experienced moments of national peril which is making such countries stronger in unity.
A statement from the Special Adviser to Dogara, Turaki Hassan, which was sent to reporters said Dogara stated this when he delivered a keynote address at the House of Justice’s Annual Summit held in Kaduna State over the weekend on the theme: “Leadership, Governance and National Security”.
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Dogara urged Nigerians not to rest on their oars until the country unravels these security challenges.
He said that the security challenges, as deeply disconcerting as they are, are not strange, adding that every nation has its own moments of peril.
“No season lasts forever, therefore this cup shall pass if we all do our bit, such as we are doing at this summit, in order to keep the promise of this great country alive.
”For us to leave this Nigeria, our country that we cherish and hold dear, to others to defend is not cowardice, it is apostasy to the Nigerian creed. For those who think Nigeria has arrived at a dead-end, let us disappoint them by turning the end into a bend. We can do it!
“I need neither to remind us that national security is a subject matter on the lips of all Nigerians now. I am further comforted by the recognition by the House of Justice, in their thesis, that this insecurity challenge is surmountable, its enormity notwithstanding”, he said.
Dogara said that the post-civil war security situation in Nigeria had been largely calm except for limited instances of armed robbery, pointing out that for about two decades, the security situation has become unhinged and killing, maiming and the destruction of properties have become commonplace daily occurrences.
“These manifest in the form of the Boko Haram insurgency, kidnapping, militancy in the Niger Delta; the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) secessionists in the South East, banditry, farmers-herders clashes, cattle rustling, ethnoreligious conflicts among others.
These, each sufficiently vicious in its own right, have combined to compound the quagmire of insecurity that pervades Nigeria now”, he added.
On the Boko Haram insurgency, Dogara said, “Way back in 2009, this militant Islamists group had heightened its activities of violence in Borno State, North-East Nigeria. Prior to the extrajudicial killing of their leader, Mohammed Yusuf in 2009, their activities had not gained notoriety in intensity and scope.
“This group is opposed to westernisation and western values including a western education. They are affiliated with renowned terrorist groups like the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and ISIS.
“Statistics by the UN reveal that by 2020, their activities had led to over 350,000 deaths, over 7 million displaced and hundreds of villages and homes totally destroyed. Whereas Islamic fundamentalism may have been the origins of Boko Haram, debilitating poverty and high illiteracy levels in the region constitute the fuel that sustains the insurgency”.
Dogara said that the government must continue to adopt deliberate policies to enhance the rapid development of the private sector by establishing industrial clusters and enhancing the agricultural value chain to put food on the table of citizens, create jobs, reduce unemployment and ensure even development.
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