Nigeria’s former military head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar says it is worrisome that volume of proliferation of all manner of weapons, estimated at six million and heightened insecurity in the country and led to over 80,000 deaths and close to three million Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.
The Chairman of the National Peace Committee, NPC, said this at a dialogue session of the committee with key stakeholders at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Abubakar, Nigeria’s challenges were multifaceted, including Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, increasing poverty, the calls for the balkanization of the country from different quarters, the threat of hunger arising from insecurity that farmers have faced and continue to face, the increasing sense of collective despair and despondency among the populace.
“The proliferation of all calibre of weapons not only in our sub-region in general and in Nigeria in particular is worrying. It is estimated that there are over six million of such weapons in circulation in the country. This certainly exacerbated the insecurity that led to over 80,000 deaths and close to three million internally displaced persons,” he said.
While noting that the security forces were not only overstretched, under-strength but also under-funded, the former head of state added that security agencies could perform better with more sophisticated weapons, equipment and more funding.
“We believe Nigeria must find a way out of these problems. Our hope is that perhaps among us, by listening to your different perspectives, we can begin to build up confidence among our people so that we can hold together. So our hope is that we shall not only share our collective lamentations about the current situation, but propose some concrete suggestions that can point the way forward, suggestions that can inspire more confidence among our people and ensure that our country remains one,” he said.
Ekiti state governor and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Plateau State Governor and Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Simon Lalong; religious leaders, military, police and other security agencies, attended the meeting.
