The security situation in Nigeria is really bad; I think every Nigerian would agree. All you need to do is read the crime section of most news papers, or hangout at a nearby joint and listen to gist; you would be almost too afraid to go outside in the evening. Let’s not even talk about North-Eastern Nigeria, or the Niger-Delta creeks, or various communities that have been attacked by Fulani herdsmen. The worst horror movies you’ve ever seen have played-out in those regions. I give a big and humble salute to men of our armed forces and security agencies who are sacrificing everyday to minimize these occurrences. But as we have often heard, “Security is everybody’s business”, and a security failure may cost us more than we can ever replace; thus the issue of security is not something we can comfortably leave to others to handle, especially in the Nigerian context.

So how much do we Nigerians really do to mitigate our vulnerability to security risks? Not much surprisingly, especially given the limitations and short comings of our security agencies. Not that we should live in fear or anything like that, but is quite surprising that we in Nigeria do not do as much to ensure our personal security as even residents of countries who have more efficient security structures. I’ve wondered about this, given it some thought, asked some questions, and arrived at the following reasons. Please feel free to disagree, buttress, contribute, or even fight with me on these points.

1. Religion. I realized that religion is the number one reason for our failure in taking our personal security seriously enough. Our approach to religion in Nigeria has made us lax in a lot of areas, security not being the least of them. It is either we believe that God will supernaturally protect us from all evil, or we believe that whatever happens to us, whether good or bad, is God’s will. I am not here to argue religion, but I just have this to say; if you don’t go to work or your place of business for the next 6 months, will God protect you from the effect of that on your finances, or will you say that that is God’s will for you? Apply the same answer to your personal security. So next time you say, “It is not my portion!” or “It is God’s will”, ask yourself, “really?”

2. Reactive nature. In Nigeria, we tend to be more reactive than proactive, especially. This grim fact was made shockingly clear to me when I decided to do a survey of people who have phone numbers to call in case of emergency, and people who have a definite plan of what to do in the event of various emergencies. A shocking 60% of people surveyed do not have either, despite some of them knowing people it has happened to. And out of the 40% who do, 30% of them have been previous victims. So majority of those who have a plan of action for various emergencies have learnt from their own bitter experience. Are you waiting to learn from yours?

3. Tendency to blame others. We blame the government, security agencies, the society, our neighbours, our friends, “the old woman in the village”, the devil…. the list goes on, anybody but our selves. Yes you cannot do it all, but by asking yourself, “What could go wrong, and what can I do to prevent it?” You can save yourself a lot of heart ache.

4. Procrastination. A lot of times, when I visit a friend and see a faulty lock or any other security lapse, and I point it out, I would often hear, “I know, I’ve been meaning to fix that”. And I would respond, “ok, just make sure you advice the thieves not to come until you get around to it”. That often passes the message. If you know what to do to improve your security, and you can do it, do it now. Even the bible likens the unexpected second coming of Jesus like the coming of a thief, you never know when it will be.

5. Focusing more on immediate needs. Yes, we can blame the economic situation in the country for this, but we often put-off adopting certain security measures while we focus on “more pressing needs”. We all have our scale of preferences and our own way of prioritizing our needs, and of course there is so much we can afford. But if we attach enough importance to it, there are always certain levels of security measures that would fall within our budget.

Let us keep asking the question, “what could go wrong and what can I do to prevent it?” It is not negative thinking, it is being responsible. Together we can achieve a safer, more secure society. Stay safe.