Insecurity: South sees rise, declines in North – report

Despite the effort of security agencies, the spate of insecurity in Nigeria worsened in Southern Nigeria in September and October leading to an increased fatality rate in the region during the period compared to the Northern region, a report made available to BusinessDay has revealed.

The report compiled by Abuja based Beacon Security Consulting Company provided deep insight into the security situation in the country in September and October, why security agencies are failing in efforts to check the situation and what the government should urgently do.

The report said that activities of criminals including bandits increased in the South-East and South-West by 71percent and 19percent respectively, while in the North-West there was 47percent reduction in security incidents, North-Central witnessed 39percent reduction, North-West also saw 52percent in security incidents in the period.

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The report also revealed a worrying trend showing a shift in the level of occurrences from Northern to Southern Nigeria, with the South-West and South-East each recording 22percent compared to the 19percent each in North-West and North-Central regions.

According to the report, despite the shift in these occurrences, the fatalities rate did not change significantly across the country, with 258 fatalities in the North-West, 158 in the North-East, 109 in the North-Central, 65 in the South-East, 30 in the South-West and 16 in the South-South.

The report further stated that Sokoto State has the highest number of attacks within the stipulated period with bandits’ incursion and maintaining a presence in several border communities including most of the 14 LGAs in the state.

In the North East, the report further stated that armed conflict continued between government and security forces, affecting parts of Northern Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, which started in August and continued in September and was sustained in October.

In the South-East, the report indicated that 65 fatalities and 8 kidnap for ransom incidents occurred in the region resulting from activities of armed groups.

On the way forward to checking insecurity in Nigeria, the report warned that the situation may likely continue unless the Federal Government collaborate to enhance the administration of criminal justice in restoring social order by addressing the root causes of these challenges including socio-economic grievances, tackling unemployment, check effects of climate change and proliferation of small arms, light weapons.