Insecurity: A Bone In The Throat Of Grassroot Development In Nigeria – Ikechukwu Anyaegbudike

Top Nigerian media entrepreneur, Senior Consultant with Pantum Groups UK and social commentator, Ikechukwu Anyaegbudike has weighed in on issues in Nigeria that are constantly drawing Nigeria backward as a nation.

In a statement made available to the press on Tuesday, the young entrepreneur emphasized on some of the reasons why Nigerians are struggling to find breath in their own motherland. And as a result, Nigeria is losing alot of young talents everyday because the environment is not secure enough to thrive.

“It is quite sad that that insecurity has taken a huge toll in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. Killing, banditry, kidnapping and other satanic devices have bedeviled the peace of the nation. And the problem is, we have refused to look at those little things that make us who we are.

“We have all it takes to be notched as one of the most secured places to visit on earth. You can’t even take a 2-hour drive down any neighbouring state safely anymore. You can’t even negotiate what’s in front of you in Nigeria anymore. That’s how drained and insecure Nigeria is at the moment.

“Those days, road trips in Nigeria were exciting. You can take long drives, even at night. And you will drive with a secured mind, that everything is desiring in front of you.

“Nigeria has lost more talents who are domiciled in other parts of the world, than any other country on earth, after India. It shows that the environment is not secured enough for the youths to make the best of their talents and professional strengths”.

Furthermore he said; “Those days, like in the 80s and in the 90s, footballers and sport people, athletes that go to represent at state, national, continental and global stages are usually picked from secondary schools. This was because it was seen that there was a need for foundational development whereby at secondary school level already, there are sports competitions that kids can participate in, and there was already a mental knowledge towards it.

“But these days, the schools and communities are not even safe anymore. Hence, we can’t explore grassroot talents. Investors, scouts, and other developmental agencies have shifted their base to Accra, Ghana as alternative to Nigeria. You can drive many hours from Accra to Kumasi, and you are not paranoid. It is crazy how we Nigerians got to this low point as a nation”.

“Nigeria budgets way over $1.9billion annually on Military, second in Africa to South Africa who budgets around $3.7billion. If we budget this much in a contraption like Nigeria; why can’t we fund community policing, properly modulated by the State Security apparatus. The United States of America who we are seemingly modelling after, have their community policing, which they call Sheriffs, and every State takes care of its own State Security Architecture.

“In West Africa for example, Nigeria’s military budgetary allocation is higher than the budgets of all other states’ defense or military operations put together. Chad who has been seriously fighting insurgency in their borders, budgets just around $24 million, Cameroon is $244 million, Niger is less than $180 million, while Benin is $116 million.

“So, let’s ask ourselves one question….’With all this heavy expenditure, why are the outcomes so poor?’.
So it is quite clear that insecurity in Nigeria has troubled the values of grassroot development,” the graduate of the University of East London concludes.