DESPITE evidence to the contrary, President of the Nigerian Senate Ahmad Lawan has said that Nigeria’s security situation is gradually improving.
Lawan said this in a post on his official Twitter page on Tuesday, stating that he and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila had met President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in Abuja.
According to Lawan, the meeting was about important national issues, most especially COVID-19 vaccination.
He stated that they also discussed the state of insecurity in Nigeria and concluded that more resources must be provided to enable security operatives to deliver on their mandate.
“The security situation is gradually improving and I am sure that when we have more resources to our security agencies, we will see even faster recovery of our situation,” Lawan said.
The security situation is gradually improving and I am sure that when we have more resources to our security agencies, we will see even faster recovery of our situation.
— Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan (@DrAhmadLawan) March 30, 2021
However, the Senate president’s claim is contrary to the facts and current situation across the 36 states.
According to data obtained from the Nigeria Security Tracker, 115 civilians died from banditry, insurgency and inter-communal clashes, while 51 persons were kidnapped or abducted between March 21 and 27.
Insecurity in Nigeria has worsened in recent times, from clashes between the Eastern Security Network and the military in the South-East to herders/farmers clashes in the South-West, as well as insurgency and banditry in the northern region of the country.
In Kaduna State alone, more than 150 persons have been kidnapped in the state. Although some of them have been released, some are still languishing in the kidnappers’ den.
Other northern states like Yobe, Adamawa, Zamfara, and Niger also faced a recurrent violent crisis that led to the closure of some schools in the states earlier in February.
A civil society organisation Amnesty International had lamented the ‘strings of attacks’ on schools in northern Nigeria, stating that security operatives were not doing enough to curb the trend.
Most of the crisis is particularly perpetrated by Boko Haram insurgents, bandits, farmer/herders, secessionist groups, and others.
Within the last seven months, Canada, United Kingdom, United States, and Australia have warned their citizens against travelling to Nigeria, citing insecurity and other crises.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via labolade@icirnigeria.org, on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94