Dr Ajuji Ahmed, National Chairman, New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), has blamed the increasing insecurity in the country to federal government’s inability to provide jobs to the teeming unemployed youths in the country.

In an exclusive interview with IGNATIUS OKOROCHA,Dr. Ahmed argued that if the youths of this nation are given adequate employment by the federal government,they will desist from all forms of criminality

He speaks on other issues of national importance.

Excerpts:

Looking at the current state of insecurity in the country today, what do you think should be the panacea for restoring peace in Nigeria?

We have been facing a lot of challenges in the country starting from high rate of inflation that me and you know about, we are facing spike of insecurity in parts of the country particularly in the Northern parts of the country. We are, of course, facing the general insurgency, which results in a lack of security for everybody. We are facing economic problems, which results in mass hunger, in some cases, starvation in the country. So,the challenges are alot but I believe that with political stability in the country all these can be overcome in the cause of time with efforts and determinations on the part of the people,not just the government but also the opposition parties as well as the population at large.

Recently, a Brigadier General was brutally murdered and in addition to the kidnapping of over 300 students and teachers
Of St Mary’s Catholic School in Niger state. What is really happening is that we no longer have security agencies or that they are sleeping?

I heard that there is an additional one in Nasarawa, but it is not verified yet.Well,I don’t know whether it is just a rumour or an actual fact. Therefore you can see that the entire North is under- siege.What is the bases of that , the cause, before we come to what the solution should be.The cause is lack of job opportunity, Lack of employment because today if a youth is given adequate employment that will earn him adequate means of livelihood, I don’t think he will have any reason to go into banditry. They go into banditry, not just that, but some of them have grievances that their cattles for example, have been rustled, and the government is doing nothing about it. Some of them are employed by politicians initially, and then later on, they go wayward. All these are reasons for that.

For the solution: The government should have risen up to the challenges. I do believe that we have the resources, we have the men, we have the equipment to confront banditry in all parts of the country but unfortunately we left it too long for it to spread from Borno right to Kastina, Zamfara, Sokoto and now Niger and we are talking about Kwara.
So, you can see that it is not just the North but also the Middle-Belt . The country is infested with bandits and criminals who results to violence against the people in order mostly to attract not just the attention of the Government but also to get ransom as means of livelihood for themselves.So, government should wake up to the challenges and deploy its resources. We know that the first responsibility of the government is to secure the lives and properties of its citizens. That has not been secured ,neither life has been secured nor property. And then the government can’t be said to be living up to it’s expectations of the first principle of its responsibility for which they have been elected.

What should be done is for the government to brace up, organise the security architecture, and confront the problem head-on. I believe we have the resources, we have the manpower, we have the men. Perhaps, what we need is the political will and overall determination to address the situation and I believe if given the opportunity, we will address that issue squarely in other to secure lives and properties of Nigerians which are the first obligations and responsibilities of every government.

Do you sense some level of sabotage among the security agencies in the fight against insurgency given the circumstances leading to the killing of Brig.Gen.Musa?

I don’t think there is any sabotage, I believe that what is happening generally is that the insecurity is so rampant that even a Brigadier General can be kidnapped and killed. It is very tragic, he is from Kano and if that is true, we commiserate with the people of Kano which is the major base of our party ( NNPP) and we also call upon the various arms of government responsible for security to live up to their responsibilities . Sabotage, I don’t know if there is any sabotage in this circumstance, and I don’t believe so. Anybody could have fallen victim to that kind of killing. Remember the Abuja-Kaduna corridors, sometime ago, that rout became completely unmotorable not because the road was bad but because security was not there at all and in the cause of time the government was able to secure that road and therefore could have secured also the forests where these criminals operate from. So, as I said earlier, it is a matter of political will, and I believe the country has the resources and manpower to address that issue.

The two arms of the National Assembly embarked on Security Summit sometime ago to find solutions to end banditry and terrorism in the country. Do you think that this kind of exercise is capable of bringing an end to insecurity in the country?

There are two things to that; Number one, I don’t think the legislature has any teeth to bite the insecurity that is raging in the country. They should sit down and come up with possible resolutions or solutions to end banditry or terrorism in the country. They don’t have the Executive Power, the Army, Air Force, Navy, Police and the other security agencies have, and they are not in the control of the legislature. By the way,we have too many summits. We should have left the issue of Summit at all and go into action. That is to say, the legislature can not pick up guns and confront the bandits but rather, what they can do is to come up with credible solutions and recommend those solutions to the Executive arm for it to implement. The legislature doesn’t need to hold a Summit to solve security issues in the country. The lawmakers are only wasting the time and resources of the country in organising Summit. If you can investigate and find out how much the National Assembly spent on this Summit alone, it could have bought more arms and ammunitions for the Army to go into the forests and confront the bandits and criminals who are operating there.

Recently, we gathered that the USA government wanted to come into the country to help Nigeria out of the persistent insecurity in the country. Do you think that move would have assisted the country to come out of the situation we are in?

The situation, I think rightly or wrongly seems to compel the Americans and perhaps every other country of good will to be allowed by the situation in Nigeria but however, having said that I don’t think the solution lies in American coming to bomb areas where they think bandits are operating or where they are murdering Christians or Muslims to the extent of becoming a genocide. The genocide is against everyone, whether it is a Christian or Muslims or anybody who does not believe in the two faiths. It affects everybody. You can even say the number of people killed or the quantum of those who are killed is probably because you have more Muslims killed than Christians. The reason for the problem right now that has given rise to the Americans saying it is genocide because it is persistent, particularly in the Midle-Belt, where Christians are concentrating.
So, somebody without the knowledge of the country ‘s demography or the sensitivity to the politics of Nigeria will probably like to believe that. However, that is not the solution, the solution lies in cooperating with the government of Nigeria and understanding the root causes of the problem and how many people it affected in most part of the country or is still affecting and then drawing up credible security measures to address insecurity in our country. If I were the President of this country, I would invite the Americans in a cooperative fashion, sit down with them, they will love to sell their arms and you will love to buy their arms to fight bandits but not to surrender your sovereignty by allowing other people to come and solve your domestic problem. America is such an interesting country such that it is not their Executive that determine policies , there are groups across the country particularly concentrated in Washington DC who really determine such policies.
Recently, I heard that the security adviser, Inspector General of Police and other security chiefs went to the USA to brief the American government on the true position of things in Nigeria. I don’t think that would have been the best approach. If I were to be in the position to nominate Nigerian delegation to American,I would nominate Christian and Muslim leaders to meet with their American delegation on the situation in Nigeria. Secondly, I should understand the workings of the American system and take advantage of that in order to make an impact in the direction of their policy.

The year is running out, and we are yet to hear of the President presenting 2026 annual budget. Do you think it can still be possible this year?

You and I are not in the position to explain what is responsible for the delay. The Ministry of Finance and budget planning are in the best position to explain. Of course the presidency and the legislature should address that question. I can only guess and the guess is that you have already provided the answer to that question.
It is a delay, who is responsible for the delay, I do not know but the delay should not have occurred if they employ you as permanent secretary or as a minister, you should have devoted all your time to prepare and produce whatever responsibility under your purview to ensure that you have come up with your budget proposals months before the kick-off of the next budget.But I don’t know whether it is laxity in control of the process or laxity on the part of those who plan and recommend them to the presidency but it is sad and uncalled for ,for the budget to be delayed in this way. Meanwhile, what we can make out of this is that if the 2026 budget is delayed beyond this year then the budget of 2027 will be affected and this will affect every other thing in the country since government controls the entire economy of the country.
Therefore that delay will affect everybody, including the private sector.