July 29, 2022/CSL Research
Based on news reports, yesterday, terrorists attacked a military checkpoint near Zuma rock, along the Abuja-Kaduna highway. This attack comes days after troops of the guards’ brigade were ambushed by terrorists in the Bwari area council, leaving soldiers and a captain dead. Only recently, scores of gunmen believed to be terrorists bombed the Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre, Abuja, which according to a report by Punch Newspaper, was guarded by dozens of soldiers, Department of State operatives, police officers and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel.
The Kuje prison attack came shortly after worshipers at St Francis Catholic Church Owo, Ondo state, were shot at during a Sunday service, leaving no fewer than 40 worshippers, including four children dead. Recently, a video of the kidnapped victims from the Abuja -Kaduna train attack in March was released, showing the kidnappers assaulting their victims.
The Nigerian security situation has steadily worsened over the past few months, as banditry, kidnapping, insurgency, terrorism, and all sorts of social crimes have spread across all parts of the country. The Boko haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorist groups continue to launch attacks unabated in the northern region. Herdsmen attacks on farmers and villagers have been on the increase in the middle belt and spreading steadily to the southern region. Insurgency in the southeast believed to be an offshoot of the agitation for self-determination by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has recently taken a turn for the worse.
According to a report released on Tuesday by Beacon Consulting, a security risk management and intelligence consulting company, and reported in Business Day Newspaper, the number of fatalities increased by 35.9% in the first half of 2022 (January to June) compared to the 4,927 fatalities recorded in the first half of 2021.
The report also showed that more citizens were kidnapped in the first half of 2022 compared to 2021. At least 3,357 persons were abducted compared to 2540 persons abducted within the same period last year, representing a 24.3 percent increase.
In response, the Nigerian Army has today announced a reshuffling of its leadership by appointing new General Commanders, Corp Commanders, Commandants of training institutions, Brigade Commanders, etc. An analysis by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) between 2020 and 2021 had indicted some 96 financiers of terrorism in the country, 424 associates of the financiers, and the involvement of about 123 companies and 33 bureaux de change.
It said the inquiry also identified 26 suspected bandits/kidnappers and seven co-conspirators. This heightened level of threats to life has created untold drawbacks to economic activities, particularly in the rural areas where farming is their mainstay, and the entire nation relies on food supplies Tackling the insecurity situation in the country should be the most important priority for the Nigerian government currently.
Beyond threatening food security in the country and resulting in a mass exodus of human capital out of the country, the education of young people is also being affected. A few days ago, the Nigerian Government, through the Federal Ministry of Education, ordered the closure of all Federal Government Colleges (FGCs) in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) due to rising insecurity.
