Experts blame insecurity for lack of development in rural areas

Many of the insecurity challenges Nigeria is currently experiencing are caused by a lack of development in rural areas, experts have said.

They submitted that there is an urgent need to invest in rural areas, arguing that rural development through buoyant agribusiness will ease insecurity in the country.

Africa Advisor, Risk Management and Business Intelligence Group, S-RM Limited, Paul Adams, who spoke at the 2019 annual corporate dinner of the Association of Professionals Women Bankers (APWB), over the weekend, in Lagos, said the system of managing governance and economy in Nigeria needs a rethink.

Speaking on the theme, “Security and development threat: Impact on socio-economic development,” Adams noted that the nation’s security challenges further undermine her economic development.

He urged the government to ensure the prosecution of those destabilising the security space, adding that insecurity leaves a growing population with disaffected young people with inadequate education and poor future prospects.

During the panel section, the Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismarck Rewane, hinged Nigeria’s insecurity and development on economic fundamental problems.

He said: “Economic growth with size of the gross domestic product, the level of income, and opportunity inequality are all economic indicators if when not properly managed could lead to security and development threat. If the economy is growing and not everybody is carried along, there would be people of income inequality.”

Similarly, Chief of Defence Training and Operations, Defence Headquarters, Major General Leo Irabor, said there is a need to change the narrative, saying everyone has a role to play.

He said security should not be left solely in the hands of security personnel but for everyone to see security as a responsibility for all.

In his opening remarks, President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Uche Olowu, said insecurity has a severe impact on the banking business, stressing that it scares investors, limits business opportunities in certain parts, and also paints a general negative picture of Nigeria.

He urged the Association to further empower the best generation of female bankers with the tools and capacity to succeed despite the insecurity challenges in the country.

Earlier, Chairman, APWB, Mrs Atinuke Leye-Ishola, in her welcome address, said it was against the backdrop of security lapses across all spheres in Nigeria that the Association is collaborating with relevant authorities to dissect the relationship between security and development.