…Demands national security emergency
The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has raised alarm over the worsening security situation across Nigeria, calling on the Federal Government to immediately declare a national security emergency, and implement extraordinary measures to tackle rising violence, kidnappings, banditry, and other criminal activities.
In a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by its spokesperson, Professor Abubakar Jika Jiddere, the Forum described the country’s security crisis as unprecedented, warning that millions of Nigerians now live in fear as criminal groups continue to operate with increasing audacity.
The Forum argued that the constitutional responsibility of the government to protect lives and property is increasingly being called into question as citizens are left vulnerable to attacks by terrorists, kidnappers, bandits, violent extremists, and organized criminal gangs.
According to the NEF, while Nigeria has faced several security challenges since independence -including the Civil War, the Maitatsine uprisings, militancy in the Niger-Delta, armed robbery, and the Boko Haram insurgency – the current situation is distinguished by the simultaneous spread of insecurity across multiple regions of the country.
The Forum cited persistent attacks and abductions in states including Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Borno, Oyo, Edo, Enugu, and Imo, noting that violence has become a recurring feature of daily life in many communities. It lamented that farmers are being forced off their lands, travelers are being ambushed on major highways, and businesses are operating under conditions of uncertainty and fear.
Particularly troubling, the group said, is the growing normalization of mass abductions and kidnapping-for-ransom, which it described as a sophisticated criminal economy fueled by weak law enforcement, porous borders, the proliferation of illegal arms, and poor intelligence coordination. The Forum warned that the apparent ability of criminal groups to operate for prolonged periods without effective resistance has eroded public confidence in the state’s capacity to guarantee security.
The NEF further highlighted the far-reaching consequences of insecurity, including declining food production as farmers abandon their fields, collapsing rural economies, reduced investor confidence, disruptions to education, and increasing poverty caused by ransom payments and displacement.
The Forum also expressed concern over reports from affected communities alleging inadequate security presence, delayed responses to attacks, and limited prosecution of perpetrators. It urged authorities to address these concerns urgently and called for comprehensive investigations into illegal mining and other resource exploitation activities that have been linked by various studies and official reports to insecurity in some parts of the country.
To reverse what it described as a dangerous trajectory, the NEF outlined a series of demands, including the immediate restructuring and strengthening of intelligence-coordination among security agencies, sustained operations against kidnapping and banditry networks using modern surveillance technology, and the prosecution of sponsors and financiers of violent criminal groups irrespective of their status or affiliations.
The Forum also called for a comprehensive audit of illegal mining activities, enhanced protection for farming communities, schools, transportation corridors, and vulnerable rural populations, as well as greater transparency and accountability in security spending and operations.
Describing the security crisis as neither a partisan, regional, nor ethnic issue, the NEF insisted that it has become a national emergency requiring urgent and measurable action. It warned that public trust in government would continue to erode if insecurity remained unchecked, and stressed that leaders would ultimately be judged not by their promises but by their ability to protect lives and preserve the nation.
“The time for assurances has passed. The time for measurable action is now”, the Forum declared.
