‎Secure Nigeria, protect Nigerians, NSC urges Tinubu

‎The Nigeria Society for Criminology (NSC) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intensify efforts towards securing the country and protecting Nigerians from growing security threats.

‎In a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan on Sunday, after the society’s 2026 International Conference, the President of the NSC, Professor Oludayo Tade, said Nigeria’s security challenges have both national and transnational dimensions and require decisive government action.

‎Professor Tade stressed that as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Tinubu bears the constitutional responsibility of safeguarding the nation’s territorial integrity and ensuring citizens can live and travel without fear.

‎“The president must protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria and ensure that Nigerians are free from fear of travelling on the roads or being abducted from schools and communities. 

“The first constitutional duty of government is the protection of lives and property, and Nigerians need to experience and feel secure,” he said.

‎He added that the government must strengthen efforts to prevent terrorists from infiltrating the country while identifying and prosecuting local collaborators operating within and outside government circles.

‎According to Tade, the conference, themed “Securing Nigeria and Protecting Nigerians,” underscored the need for government to improve economic conditions as part of broader efforts to reduce criminality while sustaining military operations against bandits, kidnappers, and terrorists.

‎The NSC president also urged the federal government to review and improve welfare packages for security personnel who have become incapacitated or lost their lives in the line of duty.

‎“Heroes protecting Nigeria and Nigerians, as well as their families, deserve better welfare protection and support,” he said.

‎Delivering the conference keynote address at Cosmopolitan University, Abuja, Senior Fellow at the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, called on the Nigerian state to fulfil its primary responsibility of protecting citizens and securing the country.

‎According to Prof. Ibrahim, rising insecurity has deepened citizens’ frustrations and weakened confidence in the state.

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‎“Nigeria is tearing at the seams because of a profound sense of insecurity amongst citizens who feel that the situation is so terrible that disintegration may not be that bad. The only way forward is for the Nigerian state to do its work, secure the country, and protect citizens,” he said.

‎The scholar identified what he described as a three-dimensional crisis confronting the Nigerian state: challenges in the political economy driven by decades of corruption, a crisis of citizenship reflected in ethno-regional conflicts and insurgencies, and growing disillusionment with democratic governance.

‎He argued that these factors have significantly eroded the social contract between citizens and the state.

‎At the conference, Professor Tade and members of his executive team were re-elected for a second term in office, a development participants attributed to what they described as the leadership’s exemplary performance.

‎Chairman of the NSC Board of Trustees, Professor Etannibi Alemika, commended the executive committee and called for more research-based evidence on Nigeria’s social challenges to support effective policymaking.

‎The conference attracted scholars, researchers and practitioners from Nigeria and abroad. 

‎Among the participants was former President of the Canadian Sociological Association and a renowned expert in criminology and terrorism studies, Professor Temitope Oriola.