Failed internal security, intelligence gathering responsible for abductions—Deji Adeyanju

VIA VANGUARD:

Human rights activist and convener of Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju, […] expressed his concerns about the impact of insecurity on the future of education in the country. He blamed the increasing security challenges in the country on poor intelligence gathering and lack of will by security heads to ensure that the country is safe despite having all the security infrastructures needed to do the job.

He emphasized the importance of education in shaping the leaders of tomorrow and argued that the current wave of attacks on schools is not just a threat to the safety of students but also to the future development of the nation. His words: “The numerous and unending abductions can be attributed to failure of intelligence gathering in the country and failure of the security agencies completely. Majority of the security agencies have lost touch with their primary responsibility, especially the DSS who are saddled with the responsibilities of intelligence gathering. Majority of security agencies have become more like willing tools in the hands of political actors, serving as errand boys to politicians.

The police that are also saddled with the responsibilities of protecting lives and properties have become orderlies to big men, oil companies and politicians. And that is why you see the lacuna in securing the lives and property of the citizenry as a whole. Whether we like it or not, these abductions were heightened under the Goodluck Jonathan administration and it appeared that we had seen the end of it during the immediate past regime. But now, it has become a new thing.

Almost N4 trillion was allocated to national security in the 2023 and 2024 budgets and even in the previous budgets but what was done with it? It is unfortunate that the people saddled with responsibilities of national security are not held accountable.

No results have been shown for all the funding that several agencies get from the international community. That is why we have these recent abductions in Kaduna, Borno, Sokoto and Kaduna. Even the security agencies encourage people to pay ransom to bandits and kidnappers and this encourages the bandits to carry out more abductions.