By Daniel Peters.
The Chairman, SOWENON organisation, a Non Governmental group, Dr Samuel Olufemi Jenfa, has advised stakeholders in Nigeria to eliminate Sectarianism so as to bring peace in the country.
Dr. Jenfa made the appeal in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday.
“Security in Nigeria has remained a serious challenge which has adversely affected the economy,” he lamented.
According to him, “Unregulated movement of weapons and arms have been attributed to be responsible by non-state actors to the insecurity problems in Nigeria”.
Dr. Jenfa noted that, it is disturbing to observe how banditry crept into the country to destroy and cripple the economy.
He said:”It is impossible for one man in person of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to fight against the menace made up of Boko Haram and other notorious militias who have been killing, maiming people in rural areas and carrying out ambushes on the highway since 2011 till date.
” They have also been engaging in kidnapping and collection of ransom from their victims. They are illegally in control of gold mines and other mineral resources through which they finance their deadly trade from internal and international agents.
“However, this phenomenon has been a serious cause of concern to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and efforts have been stepped up to restore peace and confidence to the nation with the support of countries like Russia.
“These satanic gangs have penetrated into many regions in Nigeria and their tents cannot be easily delineated except through a high intelligence network by the military. Nefarious activities of sponsors of these heinous crimes have not helped matter having brought them into our society for their personal political gains”.
“As part of measures to forestall this menace, there is the need for all stakeholders including traditional rulers, religious leaders, Governors and Security Chiefs to come together in one voice to bring the security threats challenging our nation to an expected end once and for all”.
“The criminal activities we suffer from the hand of bandits dated back from 2011 had resulted in unimaginable loss of lives across all regions but, prevalent in the North, as a result of porous borders.
“Our national policy on this matter should be one that will enact enforceable laws and regulation while recruitment exercises into the Police and Military institutions should be reviewed.
“These officers should be given high tech training and provided with high tech crime fighting equipment. The bad eggs in all police and military formations should be weeded out.”
Dr. Jenfa explained that building up the economy should be a priority as being advocated by President Tinubu during most of his foreign trips and this requires a huge budget.
” This is achievable through discipline as well as support from well meaning nations such as the United Kingdom and others.
“All stakeholders should team up with the President on this onerous task of ensuring peace and tranquility by putting an end to sectarianism which is mainly for political and personal economic gains,” he added.
Dr Jenfa also noted that social exclusion that brought about banditry can be addressed at the local level through Community leaders by working with local government Chiefs.
The SOWENON Chairman appealed to all the key players in Nigeria’s economy from various quarters, including manufacturers, businessmen, political leaders and other leaders of thought, to earnestly support the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
He said that this would boost of the federal government in the efforts to build and reform the economy and make it sustainable to bring back the glory of Nigeria and make the issue of insecurity and banditry a thing of the past for the sake of posterity.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
