INSECURITY is rising faster than expected in Nigeria, and it is high time the Federal Government and security agencies tackled it squarely.
Nobody seems to be safe in the country any longer, and I believe it is due to the economic situation in the country that the crime rate is rising every day.
Over the years, our leaders mismanaged our oil wealth, thereby leaving nothing for the citizens to survive on when things become tough. What is happening in Nigeria today can be applied to individuals’ lives; an individual who does not have any savings will suffer when he becomes broke financially.
After years of high oil prices, our leaders did not deem it fit to diversify our sources of income, as anything could happen in the oil sector. Did they even think the Western nations who were buying the oil at high prices were comfortable with it. According to information, the United States started developing the shale oil over two decades ago when it was not comfortable with the high price it was paying for crude, as well as the politics tied to it in the international political arena.
Today, the shale oil is partly responsible for the fall in the price of crude, as well as the discovery of oil in more countries of the world, thus making more countries oil producers. The truth is that oil is no longer valuable as it used to be.
Now, the inability of our past leaders to envision and work towards a bright future for the country is the reason we are experiencing this economic challenges, and this can be linked to the insecurity we are experiencing as well.
While I am blaming our past leaders for the woes we are experiencing at the moment, I want to charge the security agencies to nip in the bud the rising insecurity in the country. One of the ways to reposition the country economically is through foreign direct investments, but no investor will come to invest in the country if the environment is not conducive.
Therefore, if we really hope to get out of the economic mess we have found ourselves, then it is important that the country is safe for doing business.
- Dr Taju Alalade,
Ilorin,
Kwara State.