The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, has emphasised the need for active citizen participation in ensuring security across Nigeria, highlighting that it is unrealistic to expect the country’s security forces alone to safeguard a population of over 200 million people.
Speaking at the 2024 Distinguished Personality Lecture titled: “The Roles and Contributions of the Nigerian Army to National Development,” at the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, Lagbaja underscored the importance of public involvement in national security.
Lagbaja who was represented at the event by the Chief of Training (Army), Major General Sanni Mohammed said, “There is an erroneous belief that security is to be provided and ensured without interruption only and exclusively by the security agencies, particularly, the Nigerian Army wherever deployed.
“This has led to apathy on the part of the public who feel less concerned except when their safety is directly threatened by activities of antisocial elements.”
He pointed out that Nigeria’s security personnel, which includes around two million operatives, is insufficient to cover the vast population of the country.
“In a country of over 200 million people, it is unrealistic for security operatives totalling around 2 million, including an army of just over 100,000 active personnel without a reserve force, to secure the entire population,” he added.
Lagbaja reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to expanding the manpower of the Nigerian Army, as promised, but emphasised that the army and other security agencies remain under-resourced.
He highlighted key challenges facing the military to include inadequate funding, limited manpower, the lack of an industrial base to support defense operations, and general lack of understanding about security issues among the public.
“The Nigerian Army, along with other security agencies, is under-resourced,” the COAS noted, calling for a collective effort to address these challenges and improve the country’s security framework.
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