The issue of Nigeria Bandits, kidnappings and insurgency is clearly one of the peculiar topics of discussion on the lips of virtually every Nigerians in the past few weeks and this is because of the new dimension it has taken. Clearly some persons has obviously taken for granted the fact that involvement in these criminal activities comes with lots of psychological trauma for their victims, and oftentimes such traumas are not easy to overcome especially if such victims are young children as obviously seen in the recent kidnapping patterns with school students.
News sources has revealed series of controversies regarding talks of dialogues, amnesty and even in the opinions of some school of thoughts who posed as advocates for these Nigeria Bandits, has claimed that theses Nigeria Bandits are actually victims of circumstances.
However, The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) begs to differ from any form of opinions proposed by those advocating for banditry and see the move as an over pampering of these bandits. They have also accused the FG at various levels stating that the view to constantly pay special attention and give preferential treatment to these will only make matters worse and could even encourage more heinous crimes.
Nigeria Bandits: Muhammadu Buhari disappointingly and woefully failed
The centre went further to lament how the present administration under President Muhammadu Buhari had disappointingly and woefully failed in their efforts to tackle challenges caused by insecurity in the federation.
Speaking with regards to the recently released kidnapped f school girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara state, the centre reiterated the importance of initiatives that could forestall safety of students in order to avoid further occurrence.
Despite the fact that these students eventually gets released it’s been kind of obvious according to CDD that one of the major approach used to by the FG to gain such freedom, is the used payments of ransoms, an accusation which the government clearly denies.
In a press release on Tuesday the CDD said that;
“Efforts should also be made to ensure that all abductees in captivity are released by their abductors without succumbing to any form of amnesty or ransom. The trauma of families with children in the hands of such deadly criminals can be better imagined,” the centre said.
“It is a slap on the face of the entire country that common criminals have turned the national space into a lawless, chaotic, and non-habitable place.
“It is most unfair to the long-suffering citizens of Nigeria that the Buhari government has woefully failed to stem the tide of insecurity. It is not tenable that Nigerians, especially young people seeking an education, can no longer do so in a secure, peaceful, and conducive atmosphere
The CDD has therefore asked the FG to be more proactive and to adopt policies that could end this ugly trend.
“In fact, from the evidence on the ground, the Nigeria Bandits will become even more daring, especially as they have been getting generous financial returns from hefty sums paid to them as ransom,” the group said.
“The government, therefore, needs to effectively perform its primary function of ensuring the security of lives and property of all Nigerians. In this regard, CDD warns that the resort to measures meant to placate and pamper the criminals responsible for these abductions will lead to further heinous crimes.
“Importantly, the government should revisit and update existing school security policies such as the Safe School Initiative. Subsequently, a common national template involving the security agencies and communities should be activated to respond to the current threat of mass abductions.”
Gift Joseph Okpakorese
Staff Writer
