The Arewa Broadcast Media Practitioners Forum (ABMPF) has urged President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on security in Northern Nigeria, warning that the worsening wave of terrorism, banditry and kidnappings across the region is threatening lives, livelihoods and the future of the North.
The forum, which comprises over 150 National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)-licensed radio and television stations across Northern Nigeria, made the call on Wednesday during a press conference in Abuja.
Speaking, its chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Yelwa, said recent security incidents, including the abduction of pupils and teachers in Oyo State and the death of Major General Abubakar Rabe in bandits’ captivity, showed the urgent need for extraordinary measures to address insecurity.
“We therefore call on the Tinubu administration to immediately declare a state of emergency on security in the North with a clearly defined tactical, strategic and timeline framework for drastically bringing down insecurity in the region.
“It has become abundantly clear that all institutional, material and strategic interventions deployed in the fight against insecurity have failed to stem the tide and halt the upward trajectory of insecurity in Nigeria,” he said.
Yelwa also lamented that communities across the North continue to suffer repeated attacks, displacement and economic hardship, while thousands of residents live in fear of bandits and terrorists.
According to him, attacks on military formations in Borno and Yobe States, killings in Plateau, Benue, Niger, Kogi and Kwara States, and persistent assaults in Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina and Kaduna States point to a rapidly deteriorating security environment.
He added, “Regular kidnappings, the raiding and plundering of our communities, squalor in IDP camps, the spectacle of fleeing communities and the deafening silence in rural settlements that once sustained lives have become our daily reality.
“As media practitioners in the North, we have seen it all. Our reporters daily cover and report the heinous atrocities of bandits and terrorists. In many instances, our reporters are the first responders when bandits strike.”
He further called on Northern leaders to take responsibility for tackling insecurity by mobilising communities to identify informants and collaborators aiding criminal groups, while advocating the decentralisation of security operations and supporting the creation of state police and forest guards.
“Northern leaders at all levels must wake up to their responsibility of salvaging and ending insecurity in the region. Most instances of insecurity are often motivated by local circumstances.
“Communities must identify the ecosystem of insecurity and fish out informants and other facilitators of banditry and terrorism. The culture of victimhood, where communities sit waiting for invasion and displacement, must end.
“We applaud the creation of state police and the forest guards as mid-term and complementary strategies for fighting insecurity. However, only the massive deployment of conventional forces to dislodge criminals from their forest hideouts can give these agencies a fighting chance,” he stated.
On worsening poverty, declining agricultural productivity, and the education crisis in the North, he called the attention of the Federal and State Governments to the collapse of agriculture, brought about by insecurity, climate shocks, and the negative consequences of government policies.
“We call on governors in the North to place less emphasis on building flyovers and concentrate more on human capital development. Leaders must urgently address the issue of out-of-school children and youth unemployment.”
The forum further called on the Federal Government to develop a functional railway network across the region and implement a comprehensive development blueprint aimed at tackling poverty, reviving industries and creating jobs.
