By Huldah Shado
Public affairs analyst, Engr. Michael Oluwabemi, has warned that Nigeria’s economic gains will remain fragile unless the country urgently restructures its security architecture.
Speaking on TVC Breakfast, he said improvements in GDP growth, currency stability and balance of payments are being overshadowed by persistent insecurity across the country.
Oluwabemi identified three layers of threats: transnational terrorism along northern borders, rural violence driven by banditry and herder-farmer clashes, and rising urban crime fuelled by mass displacement into major cities.
He noted that fear among farmers has crippled food production, while disrupted trade routes and logistics continue to choke businesses. These realities, he said, contradict claims of a stable investment climate.
The analyst estimated that insecurity has cost Nigeria between $12bn and $24bn in productivity losses in the last decade, with about 80,000 lives lost and up to $5.2bn wiped out in household income and tax contributions.
He described Nigeria’s borders as overstretched and poorly coordinated, unlike neighbouring Francophone countries with unified border-management systems.
Oluwabemi criticised Nigeria’s centralised policing structure, noting that too many officers are deployed for VIP protection rather than community policing.
He also flagged constitutional inconsistencies among security oversight bodies as “structurally weak.”
He warned that increased funding will continue to fail “if injected into a faulty structure,” stressing that the military should not be burdened with routine internal security duties.
According to him, Nigeria cannot sustain economic progress without securing its citizens and reforming its internal safety system.
