Former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has said poverty, unemployment and climate change were responsible for insecurity in the Sahel region.
General Abubakar also identified weak institutions and the proliferation of small arms and light weapons to be responsible for insecurity in the region.
The former Head of state stated this in his address as the Chairman of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) inaugural annual lecture, with the theme “Insecurity in the Sahel, 2008 to 2024: Dissecting Nigeria’s Challenges, Genesis, Impacts and Options” on Thursday, in Abuja.
“At the heart of the insecurity in this region, among other factors, are the undercurrents of poverty and unemployment, and the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
“Also weak governance, and institutional failures, as well as climate change and environmental degradation.
“These factors have certainly created a fertile ground for insecurity to thrive, with devastating impacts on our dear nation.
“We must not, however, lose faith in our capacity to ride above the storms of insecurity, since this challenge is the business of each and every Nigerian, and indeed, all Africans,” Abubakar said.
While speaking on the loss occasioned by insecurity in the region, he stated that Nigeria’s security challenges cannot be distanced from security challenges facing other countries in the region.
“Nigeria’s security challenges cannot be divorced from the regional heritage in the Sahel, a vast landmass which encompasses the troubled countries of Burkina, Chad, Mali, and Cameroon.
“In the year 2020, a whopping 4,660 people were killed in this region, while another 2,600 civilians lost their lives in banditry attacks in 2021.
“We must work together to fight insecurity because we owe our children, the future generation, the duty to create a secured nation,” Abubakar added.
The Chairman of the National Peace Committee thanked NAN for organizing the lecture. He noted that the lecture would go a long way in providing solutions aimed at boosting Sahel’s security architecture.
“At such a trying time in our national life, this effort to enliven public discourse on the debilitating challenges of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, for ransom, malignancy, and violent violence, among others, will go a long way in providing solutions aimed at boosting our security architecture,” he added.
