By Ola Kay
The National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, has noted that mass illiteracy is the youths in the north are vulnerable as easy recruits to spread the menace of insecurity in the region.
The NSA made the declaration at Usmanu Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, where he delivered the convocation lecture on : ‘Navigating the Maze: Addressing Multi-Dimensional Insecurity Challenges in Northern Nigeria.’
Mallam Ribadu observed that educational lopsidedness between the region and other parts of the country led to the level of radicalisation recorded in that part of the country.
He stated that educational backwardness in the North fuelled extremist ideologies and responsible for restriction of economic opportunities.
He stated that,”Groups such as Boko Haram and other extremists exploit these vulnerabilities by offering alternative narratives that promise belonging, purpose, and at times financial benefits for coercion.”
He added that, it was as a result of the drawbacks that the Tinubu-led administration decided to hand over specific appointments to the North. “He appointed northerners to head security and Defence. He gave us both ministers of Agriculture and Education. Minister of health is from the North. It is for us to make the best of it,” he noted.
As part of the way forward, Ribadu called for the need to broaden the windows of school enrollment in the North, as a way of mitigating radicalism and enthroning a stable and safe region.
He also decried the proliferation of small arms, corruption and injustice as part of the reasons for insecurity, while lamenting that, despite laws against unauthorized arms possession, the circulation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs) was pervasive thereby leading to violence.
Speaking on the challenges of farmers/herders clashes, he explained that climatic factors and competition for scarce farming and grazing lands were responsible for escalation of the crisis. Although, the NSA agreed that security agencies in the country were already overstretched as a result of inadequate security personnel, he said that under Tinubu government, Nigerian security has improved, stressing that all abducted school children had been rescued without the payment of any ransom.
Ribadu said that, the positive changes recorded in the security situation of the country had equally led to increased oil exploration and production in the Niger Delta region.
He concluded that the timely response to the harsh economic conditions in the country by the President led to the crash in the prices of essential good, while adding the government would continue to work to improve the living condition of the citizens.
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