THOUGH the Federal government of Nigeria, through Major General Markus Kangye, the Director of Defence Media Operations has questioned the validity of a recent report released by the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP), many citizens, no doubt, have been thrown into a state of fear by the document.
According to the report, Nigeria has climbed to the sixth position in the 2025 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) with a score of 7.658, moving up from eighth position in 2023 and 2024. The report which was released on 5 March 2025, ranked Burkina Faso as the most impacted country with a score of 8.581, followed by Pakistan (8.374), Syria (8.006), Mali (7.907), and Niger (7.776), which placed second to fifth, respectively.
The researchers arrived at the conclusion with a case study of 163 countries of the world and with a target 99.7% of the world population. IEP went further to submit that the Nigeria lost 565 of her citizensas a result of terrorism-related killings.
Given the federal government’s budget of N1.647trn allocated to defence in 2024, it will be unfair to quickly conclude that the government is not making enough attempts at curbing insecurity in the nation. The figure represents 5.7% of the entire financial plan.
However, it has become obvious that merely allocating humungous amounts of money for projects cannot automatically translate to success in the execution of such projects. The emphases must shift from the present method of fighting insecurity to a more globally accepted technology-driven system of war against crime and terrorism. And the tempo, once established must be ceaselessly pursued with consistence.
In the words of Paul Wilkinson, a British football coach; “Fighting terrorism is like being a goal keeper. You can make a hundred brilliant saves but the only shot that people remember is the one that gets past you”.
But beyond the fight against the menace with scientific weapons of war, government must do more to get to the root cause of the challenge.
For example, the lingering issue of inequitable distribution of the nation’s wealth must be addressed. Each time a man is left to work with very little or no commensurate pay for him to meet his primary needs, an opportunity to go into crime and corruption is created.
When the value of the Nigerian Naira was high, it was easy for civil servants and school teachers to attract youths into their fold. Unfortunately, today’s wages hardly take earners through the month. This has lured many youths to vices such as “yahoo-yahoo”, armed robbery, kidnapping and so on where they can make quick money. Those at the lower level of education and knowledge are easily hired to perform heinous crimes at meager financial rewards.
In other words, the poverty index of the country is equally alarming. Hungry people are easily persuaded to cut corners in their attempts to live improved standards of life.
The orientation agencies have critical roles to play in ensuring that the people’s minds are not easily swayed towards the thoughts of the wrong things. Improved civic education in primary and post primary schools can also offer the needed background for positive behavioral patterns among the youths of the country.
Furthermore, Nigerian leaders must lead by example. Ostentatious display of wealth in midst of lack among the populace remains an impetus to people who are given to protesting against the imbalance in the distribution of the nation’s resources.
It is our considered view therefore that the war against terrorism should not be left in the hands of the government alone. As the saying goes, “security is everybody’s business”.
