• Ex-CDF blames unresolved political crises
• Scholars push for community-based strategies, inclusive governance

Amid Nigeria’s deepening security crisis, Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, has issued a stark warning that government alone could no longer shoulder the burden of protecting lives and property, urging citizens to take a more active role in confronting the country’s unending violence.
 
Speaking at the 2026 Maris Annual Public Service Lecture in Asaba, the governor described insecurity as an existential threat to national unity, insisting that collective vigilance and cooperation between citizens and security agencies are now indispensable.
 
Represented by the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Kingsley Ashibuogwu, the governor painted a grim picture of the country’s persistent insurgency.
 
“Security is no longer the exclusive preserve of government,” he stressed, saying there is a need for community-based policing and citizen intelligence as part of a broader security architecture.
 
The governor highlighted his administration’s investments in operational support for security agencies. The lecture, themed: ‘Insecurity: The Bane of Nigeria’s Unity and Progress’, brought together policymakers, scholars, and security experts, many of whom echoed concerns that Nigeria’s crisis has outgrown conventional responses.
 
In a keynote address, former Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Onyenuchea Irabor, delivered a more structural critique, describing insecurity as the single greatest threat to Nigeria’s survival.
 
Irabor argued that the roots of the crisis lie far deeper than criminality, pointing instead to unresolved political grievances and historical divisions that have festered for decades.
  
He called for the institutionalisation of a national reconciliation policy, stressing that without deliberate efforts to heal longstanding wounds, security interventions would remain unsustainable.
 
The former defence chief also made reference to what he described as Nigeria’s chronic governance failure, arguing that the problem is not a lack of ideas or strategies, but the absence of political will to implement and sustain meaningful reforms.

ALSO, Scholars and researchers under the African Peace-building and Developmental Dynamics (APDD) African University Seminar Series–Nigeria (AUSS-NG) have expressed worry that governance failures, inequitable resource distribution, and political and economic exclusion remain key drivers of conflict, urging government at all levels to address these structural issues to achieve lasting peace.
 
They, therefore, called for the adoption of community-based strategies and inclusive governance to address Nigeria’s persistent peace and security challenges.
 
The call formed part of the resolutions reached at the end of a four-day writing and publication workshop held at the University of Port Harcourt, Choba Campus, Rivers State.
 
The workshop, organised by AUSS-NG and supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, brought together alumni of the former African Peacebuilding Network (APN) and Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa programmes of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC).
 
In a communiqué issued at the end of the event yesterday, participants emphasised the need for strategic communication frameworks rooted in local realities to counter radicalisation and promote peacebuilding efforts across the country.
 
The scholars also warned against the over-reliance on government contracts as a tool for peace, stating that while such interventions may temporarily reduce violence, they often fail to address underlying grievances and may create parallel security structures.