The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has raised the alarm over Nigeria’s deteriorating security situation, warning that citizens are increasingly abandoning faith in the state and resorting to self-help measures for their own protection.
Speaking on Arise News, ACF National Publicity Secretary Tukur Mohammed-Baba said the trend represented a fundamental threat to the social contract between the government and its citizens.
“There is this level of desperation, and we are gradually, gradually normalising self-help — that unless you do something, the government will not be there to protect you. To me, that undermines the essence of the role of the state with regards to citizens,” he said.
Mohammed-Baba argued that despite official assurances, insecurity has worsened since President Bola Tinubu took office, with the administration’s economic policies delivering outcomes that were, in his words, “highly disappointing, if not disturbing.”
He pointed to the slow rollout of forest guards as evidence of the government’s sluggish response, noting that plans to deploy 1,000 guards across seven states came only after recent violence in Oyo and Borno — and that research indicates more than 30,000 terrorists are currently active in ungoverned rural spaces across Sokoto, Katsina, and Zamfara.
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The ACF spokesman also highlighted the threat bandits pose to food security, saying armed groups have imposed levies and barred farmers from their land.
He extended his criticism to the education sector, questioning whether teachers were being paid and whether school facilities were adequate, while also noting that even in semi-urban areas, students face the risk of abduction.
“Whether we like it or not, we can continue to be delusional. We can continue to think the average citizen is not aware, but he is,” Mohammed-Baba said.
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