As a result of the continues killings, banditry, kidnapping amongst other security challenges in most parts of the country, communities mostly affected have indulged in securing their own weapons for self defence.
It was made known in a press conference by Arewa Research and Development Projects (ARDP) at the Kaduna State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
According to ARDP, concluded arrangement has been made to hold a summit with a view to finding lasting solutions to the insecurity challenges bedeviling the country.ARDP noted that insurgency continues with heavy casualties on the military formations, saying that rural banditry has been raging and expelling hundreds daily.While speaking, the Convenor, Dr. Usman Bugaje acknowledged the over stretched of the military being deployed in over 30 States in the fight against insecurity.
According to him, the insecurity situation in the country is perhaps today the biggest single issue that faces the nation.He says: “security challenges is one issue that has over time continued to worsen and it is one issue that is about to ground the whole country. The one decade boko haram insurgency has sapped the human and material resources of the Federal and State governments and has yet remained protracted.
“The rural banditry, previously localized has now spread all over the country, particularly the North, taking heavy tolls and displacing an increasing number of citizens. The Kidnapping for ransom phenomenon has become a strong industry defying solutions.
“The ethno-religious crises and the farmer-hearder conflicts are not abating. The urban violence perpetrated by the increasing army of unemployed youth continue to strike terror in theurban residents and continue to hold urban communities under siege.“This means that various communities are securing their own weapons and organizing their defences. This creates a whole new dimension to the security crisis, for it leads to further proliferation of small arms among citizens and irredeemably leads to anarchy.
“Once anarchy sets in it leads to total breakdown of law and order and as with other Africa Countries it takes a whole generation to recover.
“We therefore believe that the efforts of the security agencies need to be boosted by a robust and coordinated community support. These and many such considerations prompted us tostart a wide consultation as to the way out of this imbroglio,” he said.
