Urgently treat issues threatening Nigeria’s corporate existence, NUJ advises Buhari

• Experts identify causes of insecurity, offer solutions

Nigeria Union Journalists (NUJ), yesterday, advised the Federal Government to urgently address those critical issues threatening the country’s corporate existence.

Its National President, Chris Isiguzo, who gave the council, said the most populous black nation had been overwhelmed by insecurity, an unending Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, scarcity of petroleum products, spiralling inflation and intimidation of journalists.

In his state of the nation address at the body’s national secretariat in Abuja, Isiguzo observed: “Taking a cursory look at developments within the country, it does not require beating the drums for any discerning and critical mind to know, understand and appreciate the need for an urgent appraisal to assist the country we so much cherish to stand stronger than its present wobbling feet.

“The NUJ, as a critical stakeholder in the Nigeria project, feels seriously concerned of the need for the Federal Government to quickly move more than ever before in addressing some critical areas of governance such as insecurity, education, health and spiralling inflation.”

Other areas the president identified are power, maintenance of law and order, electioneering, respect for rule of law and food security arrest.

“We can only remain and call ourselves Nigerians only on the premise that there is a country known and addressed as Nigeria,” he added.

The NUJ chief said Nigeria seems to be the only country in the world without existing mechanisms for price control.

He called for central harmonisation of policies with a view to checking inconsistencies, adding that the current inflation rate was unsustainable.

IN a related development, experts, at a gathering, in Abuja, identified bad governance, poverty, and youth unemployment as some of the causes of the nation’s rising insecurity.

At a roundtable, tagged, “Security sector governance and countering radicalism,” the professionals submitted that insecurity in Nigeria “is not due to lack of adequate legal framework, but due to absence of political will and strong institutions to counter it.”

Delivering a paper, titled “combating extremism in the Sahel, what strategies should we employ?” a security consultant, General Saleh Bala, pointed out that on account of poor governance and lack of genuine steps to address issues affecting youths, radicalism and extremism had overtaken taken, a development he said, was breeding grounds for terrorism and related crimes.

He stated that unless Nigeria gets governance right, by insisting on the application of state resources for the public good, the level of criminality would multiply.

In his submission, an international security analyst, Ndubuisi Nwokolo, made a fresh demand for state police.

Also, the proprietress of a pro-security radio station, Agnes John Thomas, lamented that “misinformation, disinformation, under-reporting and lack of transparency concerning human rights abuses have continued to affect the narrative on insecurity.”

She noted that the persistence of violent conflicts between the military and insurgents has caused a lot of instability and displacement of communities.