Declare National Emergency Over Worsening Insecurity Now, Northern Elders Tell FG

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has called on the Federal Government to immediately declare a National Security Emergency, warning that Nigeria is facing an unprecedented security crisis that threatens national stability, economic growth, and social cohesion.

In a statement yesterday and signed by its spokesperson, Professor Abubakar Jika Jiddere, the Forum expressed deep concern over what it described as the continuous collapse of security across the country, saying millions of Nigerians now live in fear while criminal groups operate with increasing boldness.

The group cited Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution, which states that the security and welfare of citizens shall be the primary purpose of government, and questioned why many Nigerians are increasingly being forced to fend for themselves against kidnappers, terrorists, bandits, violent extremists, and organized criminal gangs.

According to the Forum, Nigeria has historically faced several security challenges, including the Civil War, Maitatsine uprisings, Niger Delta militancy, sectarian violence, armed robbery, and the Boko Haram insurgency. However, it argued that the current situation is unique because multiple forms of insecurity are occurring simultaneously across nearly all regions of the country

The NEF pointed to recurring attacks and criminal activities in states including Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Borno, Oyo, Edo, Enugu, and Imo, among others. It noted that communities are being attacked, citizens abducted, farmers displaced from their lands, and travellers ambushed on major highways.

The Forum also expressed alarm over the growing prevalence of kidnapping-for-ransom, describing it as a sophisticated criminal enterprise fueled by weak law enforcement, porous borders, illegal arms proliferation, and inadequate intelligence coordination.

“The consequences are devastating,” the statement said, noting that farmers are abandoning their farmlands, food production is declining, rural economies are weakening, investor confidence is being eroded, and many children are being deprived of education due to insecurity.

The group further criticized what it described as inadequate security responses in many affected communities, including delayed interventions during attacks and limited prosecution of perpetrators.

In addition, the Forum called for comprehensive investigations into illegal mining and other forms of resource exploitation that have been linked by various reports and studies to insecurity in parts of the country.

To address the worsening situation, the Northern Elders Forum urged the Federal Government to adopt extraordinary measures, including the restructuring and strengthening of intelligence coordination among security agencies, aggressive disruption of kidnapping and banditry networks, and the prosecution of sponsors and financiers of violent criminal groups regardless of their status or affiliations.

Other recommendations included a nationwide audit of illegal mining operations, enhanced protection for farming communities, schools and transportation corridors, as well as greater transparency and accountability in security spending and operations.

Describing insecurity as a national rather than regional or ethnic issue, the Forum warned that public trust in government could continue to erode if the security situation remains unchecked.

“This is not a partisan issue. This is not a regional issue. This is not an ethnic issue. This is a national emergency,” the statement declared.

The Forum concluded by urging leaders at all levels to move beyond assurances and deliver measurable results, stressing that history would judge public officials by the lives they protected and the nation they preserved.

“The time for assurances has passed. The time for measurable action is now,” the statement added.