The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Urgent need for a modern forest guard service

    Urgent need for a modern forest guard service

    Sir: Nigeria stands at a critical crossroads in its battle against insecurity. Banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, and cross-border criminal infiltration have reshaped the nation’s security landscape in ways that demand new thinking and new institutions. Our forests—once symbols of natural wealth, agriculture, and quiet rural life—have gradually been seized by those who exploit them as hideouts, transit corridors, armouries, and operational camps.

    For too long, Nigeria has tried to confront forest-based threats with forces not specifically structured or trained for such terrain. Policing strategies designed for cities cannot effectively monitor dense forests stretching from the North to the Middle Belt. Conventional military deployment, although powerful in open combat, is often stretched thin across multiple fronts. The result is an enduring cycle: criminals melt into forests after attacks, regroup, and strike again.

    If the enemy lives in the forests, then Nigeria must build a force that also lives in the forests—a dedicated, modern, highly trained Forest Guard Service, equipped not just with courage, but with technology and a deep understanding of the terrain.

    The forests are not merely hiding places; they are the backbone of contemporary insecurity. They provide cover, mobility, secrecy, and natural defence for armed groups. A professional forest force would fundamentally change the security equation by establishing permanent presence in remote forests, tracking criminal movements with drones and thermal cameras and conducting reconnaissance that regular police cannot sustain, among others.

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    India confronted Maoist insurgents who operated deep in thick forests for decades. The government responded by forming specialised jungle units trained in forest warfare, night operations, and drone-assisted surveillance. Their presence slowly dismantled networks that once seemed impossible to dislodge. Brazil faced criminal syndicates and illegal mining groups embedded in the Amazon. The creation of elite jungle brigades—experts in long-range patrols and advanced reconnaissance—restored federal authority across vast stretches of territory.

    For years, insurgency and banditry entrenched themselves in places like Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa, parts of Benue and Kogi. These communities suffered the earliest wounds of a conflict that gradually revealed its national reach.

    To meet today’s threats, the Forest Guard Service must be more than a symbolic creation. It must be a highly capable, technologically empowered force with long-range drones and aerial reconnaissance, thermal and night-vision surveillance, forest communication towers, and off-road tactical vehicles, counter-ambush and terrain-specific training.

    In an era where criminals adapt quickly, Nigeria must adapt faster. Nigeria must graduate from reactive security to proactive dominance, from general strategy to terrain-specific precision, from scattered operations to permanent presence.

    Our forests cannot remain invisible cities for criminals. Our rural communities cannot continue to live with trembling hearts. Our borders cannot remain unguarded shadows.

    The creation of a modern Forest Guard Service is not just one option among many—it is the next evolution of Nigeria’s national security doctrine.

    Nigeria is capable of reclaiming its forests, securing its villages, strengthening its borders, and restoring confidence across its states. Other nations have faced similar challenges and prevailed by designing forces that match the terrain and the nature of the threat.

    With strong leadership and with a dedicated Forest Guard Service empowered by technology and training, Nigeria can turn the tide. The forests that criminals now exploit can become the very ground on which their networks collapse.

    Our safety, our farms, our markets, and our communities depend on it.

    •Aliyu Abubakar Bello Dorayi, Kano.

  • Insecurity: Nigeria’s obsession with labels

    Insecurity: Nigeria’s obsession with labels

    Sir: Nigeria is bleeding. From Boko Haram ambushes in the Northeast to banditry in the Northwest; from kidnappers prowling highways to communal clashes in the Middle Belt; from gangsterism in the creeks to IPOB-induced violence in the Southeast—our nation is besieged by threats that cut across tribe, region, religion, and class. Every citizen, whether Christian, Muslim, or traditionalist, has tasted the bitter sting of insecurity.

    Yet, in the midst of this tragedy, a curious subset of Nigerians insists that before seeking solutions, the rest of us must accept their preferred label for the violence. Before addressing the wound, we must first recite a slogan. Before draining the flood, we must agree on its “origin story.” Without this ritual, they claim, we are “downplaying the killings.”

    To what rational, inclusive purpose?

    Some Nigerians are determined to plant a single label—“Christian genocide”—on our complex and multi-dimensional security crisis. Their aim is not understanding, healing, or solution-driven problem-solving. It is emotional blackmail wrapped in religious outrage. They weaponise grief to polarize citizens, as though the death of a Muslim farmer in Katsina or a traditionalist hunter in Taraba were somehow less Nigerian, less tragic, or less human.

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    The label does not heal wounds—it deepens divides. It does not solve problems—it simplifies them into caricatures. It does not honour the dead—it exploits them for rhetorical effect.

    One would think that if insecurity were reduced to neat labels, criminals would neatly align themselves. But terrorists and armed criminals in Nigeria didn’t receive the memo. They strike mosques and churches, markets and farms, Muslims, Christians, and those who simply want their daily pounded yam in peace.

    Yet some persist with the label, because outrage—especially religious outrage—makes a powerful political tool. It garners clicks, fuels echo chambers, and gives fringe actors the illusion of moral high ground.

    Meanwhile, real Nigerians are still burying their loved ones. Let’s fix the flood, not argue about the name. Nigeria does not need more label merchants. She needs solution architects: strengthened local intelligence systems, community-based policing partnerships, improved border security, modern surveillance infrastructure, rapid prosecution of abductors, and justice that is swift, impartial, and transparent.

    If our street is flooded, let us drain the water before arguing over what to call it. If our fellow citizens are being attacked, let us secure them before squabbling about which vocabulary best flatters our bias.

    The real question is not whether the crisis fits a convenient slogan. The real question is whether we are ready to confront insecurity with clarity, unity, and courage—not with divisive labels that do nothing but serve the opportunists who promote them.

    •Prof Leonard Karshima Shilgba,<shilgba@gmail.com>

  • Driving the economy through real estate investment

    Driving the economy through real estate investment

    • By Adekunle Ishaq Olalekan

    Sir: Nigeria’s economic policy narrative under the present administration is one of bold ambitions tempered by harsh realities. The policies which are aimed at reducing the government’s role in the economy, reducing the nation’s overly dependence on the oil sector by pushing through a series of market-oriented measures, encouraging private sector participation, and attracting foreign sector investment, have led to sharp rise in the cost of living.

    Though the economic outlook is showing signs of gradual recovery after years of turbulence, projected growth remains far below what is required to transform the nation’s living standards. The citizens continue to grapple with biting hardship, even as the government reaffirmed its commitment to driving economic transformation, and improving financial stability. As the government pushes with determination, its policies on economic transformation, I suggest it looks more closely in the direction of real estate, with a resolve to harness its potential amidst formidable obstacles.

    Real estate can improve and transform Nigeria’s economy and catalyze it on the path of sustainable development. That is why the more developed nations of the world leverages real estate to grow and develop their economies. In the United States of America for instance, real estate sector is a major component of it’s economy, driving its GDP growth and economic activities, such as job creation and consumer spending.

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    Real estate can play a more critical role in our economy. It can contribute more remarkably to the nation’s GDP, and can actually oil and speed up economic growth and development in a very significant manner. If properly harnessed, and under a visible, clear-cut and well-articulated policy regime, real estate will transform Nigeria’s economy more rapidly.

    Nigeria real estate market is not only dynamic, it remains a choice destination for local and international investment, with huge potentials and returns. Nigeria’s over 200 million population, and rapid urbanization makes the sector viable for investment. Shelter is one of the basic needs of man, yet housing is about the most difficult to access in Nigeria. Thousands of Nigerians across the major cities of Nigeria are in search of decent and affordable accommodation, and even when they find one, the cost of rent is out of reach for many. The United Nations estimates that Nigeria needs over 20 million housing units to close its housing deficit. This figure shows the enormous gap between demand and supply in the sector.

    The import of this is that housing deficit provides an opportunity for investment. Infrastructure development enhances real estate development, which in turn positively impacts the economy, as its multiplier effect leads to increased investment, commerce, job and wealth creation.

    •Adekunle Ishaq Olalekan,

    Lagos.

  • Open letter to the senate

    Open letter to the senate

    • By Chionye Hencs Odiaka

    Sir: The recent decision by the senate to classify kidnapping and banditry as acts of terrorism along with the approval of the death penalty for offenders is a bold and commendable step toward restoring security across our nation. Nigerians have endured years of pain, fear and uncertainty. Families have been shattered, businesses crippled and communities displaced by the persistent surge of kidnapping and violent crimes. While the senate’s resolution is timely and necessary, it is only the beginning. Without complementary reforms to strengthen the judicial process, the impact of this new legislation may fall short of the expectations of citizens who are yearning for true justice.

    I urge the senate to establish a special court for kidnapping and violent crimes through federal legislation. This should not be an optional addition to our justice system but an urgent necessity to give real meaning to the senate’s recent declaration. The special court must be empowered to conduct speedy trials because kidnapping cases often drag on for years, creating delays that embolden criminals and frustrate victims. Fast tracked hearings and judgments will cut through the bureaucracy that currently slows justice. The certainty and swiftness of punishment are far more effective deterrents than punishment alone.

    The court must also ensure clear and firm sentencing. It should differentiate between cases where the victim survives and those where the victim is killed. When lives are taken, the death penalty already approved by the senate must apply. When victims survive, life imprisonment should be the minimum sentence. This distinction ensures proportional justice while maintaining a zero tolerance approach to violent crime.

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    Another major challenge is enforcement. One significant reason why death sentences in Nigeria rarely reach execution is the constitutional requirement for governors to sign death warrants. Over the years, many governors have declined to do so for political, religious or personal reasons. As a result, convicted murderers and kidnappers often remain on death row indefinitely or eventually secure reprieves. This loophole weakens the justice system and emboldens criminals who believe the law can be circumvented.

    A special court must therefore be empowered to enforce its judgments without reliance on gubernatorial approval. Justice should not depend on political will or personal philosophy. The laws of the Federal Republic should be enforced uniformly and consistently. The court should also oversee the full implementation of its judgments, whether death penalty or life imprisonment, to ensure that justice is not merely pronounced but fully carried out. Nigeria cannot continue with a system where convictions are delivered but never enforced.

    To the senate, I say the time to act decisively is now. You have already taken the courageous step of labelling kidnapping as terrorism and approving the death penalty. The next step, which is the establishment of a special court and the removal of the enforcement bottleneck caused by governors’ refusal to sign death warrants, will transform this legislation from theory into meaningful impact. If Nigeria must curb the scourge of kidnapping, justice must be sure, swift and complete. Only then will criminals understand that our nation will no longer tolerate this reign of terror. Establishing this special court is the surest path to restoring peace, strengthening the rule of law and protecting the lives of citizens.

    I urge the senate to act with the urgency this crisis demands.

    •Chionye Hencs Odiaka

    Delta State.

  • Ezra Olubi: Lessons from the fall of a digital genius

    Ezra Olubi: Lessons from the fall of a digital genius

    • By Shuaib S. Agaka

    Sir: What began as quiet online murmurs soon exploded into screenshots, threads, and timelines filled with decade-old posts—explicit jokes, sexual comments involving minors, unsettling humour, and troubling allegations linked to a man once regarded as one of Africa’s most brilliant innovators. Ezra Olubi, co-founder of Paystack and the unconventional face of a $200 million acquisition by Stripe, was suddenly trending not for genius, but for shock, disbelief, and disappointment.

    By the end of the week, applause had given way to interrogation. Tweets long buried resurfaced with force, including remarks about young girls, fetish-tinged statements, sexualised humour, and accusations of inappropriate conduct with a younger colleague. The same online community that once amplified his brilliance now demanded clarity and accountability. His image was not dismantled by a mob; it was undone by his own digital past.

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    Long before Ezra Olubi’s name became synonymous with African fintech, he developed an early fascination with computers—a passion that guided him through Babcock University, where he graduated with first-class honours in Computer Engineering. After years of freelancing and building systems, he teamed up with Shola Akinlade in 2015 to co-found Paystack, a company designed to simplify online payments for Nigerian businesses. What began as a niche solution evolved into one of Africa’s most influential fintech giants.

    Tech Digest reports that in 2020, Paystack secured one of Africa’s biggest start-up exits when Stripe acquired it for over $200 million. The achievement catapulted Ezra into national recognition, earning him the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in 2022. His public persona—gender-nonconforming, flamboyant, and unapologetically unconventional—challenged Nigeria’s conservative norms and made him both an icon for some and a target for others. This tension amplified everything around him: praise, scrutiny, admiration, and resentment.

    But even before the scandal erupted, whispers circulated privately, concerns about blurred boundaries, troubling jokes, and behaviour many found odd but excused as eccentricity. These early signs were often dismissed in the shadow of his achievements—until the spark came.

    When Nigerians began circulating screenshots of Ezra’s old tweets, the reaction was immediate and visceral. These were not vague insinuations but explicit posts. The tweets, resurfacing all at once, created a digital avalanche that reshaped public perception overnight.

    As the tweets dominated social media, allegations followed. Anonymous accounts and pseudonymous participants in audio spaces recalled encounters that suggested manipulation, inappropriate conduct, or imbalance of power. One alleged ex, known only as “Maki,” claimed she experienced concerning behaviour that blurred lines between personal freedom and predatory tendencies. As stories multiplied, Ezra’s digital reputation collapsed.

    Paystack, once shielded by his brilliance, found itself at the epicentre of a reputational crisis. The company suspended him pending investigation—a move that signalled internal panic. Investors grew uneasy, partners demanded clarity, and Stripe assessed potential damage to its global reputation. Eventually, termination became inevitable. Ezra released a rebuttal, attempting to contextualise the tweets as satire or youthful foolishness, but the harm was irreversible. Corporate institutions act swiftly when founders become liabilities.

    Ezra’s downfall has significant implications for Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. For years, founders were celebrated as untouchable disruptors—ingenious, eccentric, and exempt from public morality. This incident shattered that myth. The new reality is clear: innovation does not erase accountability. Investors, regulators, and the public are now recalibrating how they judge tech leadership—not just by vision, but by character.

    His story is a cautionary tale for digital natives and future innovators. The internet never forgets, and brilliance is not a moral shield. In an era where digital footprints become evidence and public perception shapes legacy, Ezra’s journey reinforces a timeless truth: talent builds empires, but character sustains them.

    Ezra Olubi built part of Africa’s digital economy, but his legacy is now inseparable from the words he once posted carelessly into the world. His rise and fall will be studied not just as a narrative of success, but as a reminder that even genius must answer to the standards of its time.

    •Shuaib S. Agaka,

    Kano.

  • Rising attacks pushing North toward its worst lean season

    Rising attacks pushing North toward its worst lean season

    Sir: The recent warning from the World Food Programme about rising hunger in northern Nigeria confirms a reality many of us who study and report on this crisis have been following closely for years. Terrorist attacks and the widening insecurity across the region are now pushing nearly 35 million people toward severe food shortages as the 2026 lean season draws closer.

    This figure is not inflated; it reflects conditions that have been building quietly across rural communities where violence, displacement, and economic strain collide every day.

    In Borno State, where the Boko Haram conflict began, the situation is even more troubling. I grew up in this region and witnessed the early stages of this war. The estimate that around 15,000 people are heading into famine-like conditions is consistent with what local monitors, aid workers, and community leaders have been worried about for months.

    When entire villages lose access to farmland because of IEDs, ambushes, and shifting control between ISWAP and JAS, hunger stops being a risk and becomes a certainty.

    The conflict has already claimed more than 40,000 lives and displaced close to two million people. Yet the crisis has expanded well beyond the northeast. The spread of armed groups into the northwest and north-central, commonly called “banditry,” although their tactics now resemble insurgent operations, has opened a second front.

    The recent mass kidnappings in Niger, Kebbi, and Kwara states are not isolated. They fit a clear pattern of criminal and terror networks blending forces, extending influence, and testing the state’s capacity to respond.

    While the war is not as intense as it was in 2015, the pace of attacks has risen sharply this year. From my own fieldwork across Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, and Katsina, it is evident that security agencies are stretched thin.

    Reinforcements often arrive late, community warnings go unheeded, and local vigilante groups that once helped stabilize villages are now worn out or deliberately targeted.

    Economic hardship is adding more pressure. The lean season has always been difficult, but inflation has stripped families of the little safety net they once relied on. In many rural towns, the cost of staple grains has more than doubled, forcing households to depend on aid that is itself shrinking.

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    The WFP’s reduced capacity is already visible on the ground. Nearly a million people rely on their support in the northeast, yet funding cuts have shut down hundreds of nutrition centres.

    In Jibia, Damasak, Zurmi, and Sabon Birni, families now walk long distances seeking help, only to find that the nearest facilities have closed. When a fragile system loses a third of its capacity, a surge from “serious” to “critical” malnutrition is the natural outcome.

    The growing presence of jihadist groups adds another layer of concern. The recent claim by JNIM, a group rooted in the Sahel, marks a troubling shift. Their operations reaching into Nigeria suggest the slow merging of the Sahel and Lake Chad conflict zones; an escalation that regional analysts have anticipated for years.

    The situation described by the WFP matches what communities across the north have been living through daily: shrinking farmland, repeated attacks, volatile markets, and aid pipelines drying up just when they are needed most. People who once showed remarkable resilience are now reaching breaking point.

    As 2026 approaches, the humanitarian outlook is shaping into one of the hardest seasons since this conflict began. The numbers tell part of the story, but those of us from these areas have seen how hunger takes hold long before the statistics reflect it. The warning is credible, and it deserves urgent attention.

    •Idris Mohammed,University of Alabama, United States.

  • Passport reforms redefining the business climate

    Passport reforms redefining the business climate

    Sir: The passport reforms under the leadership of Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo may appear, on the surface, like a travel convenience upgrade. But beneath that surface lies something far more powerful: restored trust in the Nigerian state. Entrepreneurs have long lived in fear of government processes because those processes were unpredictable. You could plan around slow. You could never plan around confusion. Weeks of waiting, duplicated biometrics, extra payments, middlemen, missing files — small business owners suffered all of it. Every inefficiency translated to lost deals, altered timelines, and additional costs.

    Digital passport processing did more than clean up a service. It reintroduced predictability, a currency more valuable than oil when building an economy. Investors, both local and foreign, take cues from how a government manages the simplest things. If a passport system can work seamlessly, stakeholders begin to believe that bigger systems can work too. This is why the reforms matter: they quietly restore confidence in the promise of Nigeria as a functional environment.

    Efficient governance directly reduces the cost of doing business. Entrepreneurs understand this better than anyone. A document stuck on someone’s table can delay a client contract. A manual process can introduce corruption and inflate operational costs. A broken verification system can stall travel plans for an important business meeting. What looks like a “government problem” is always, eventually, a business problem.

    This is why digital processes in immigration, electronic correspondence, identity management reforms, and stricter accountability within agencies translate into real economic impact. They eliminate friction. They save time. They reduce stress. They help entrepreneurs redirect their energy from wrestling with institutions to building the businesses that create jobs.

    What makes the reform approach stand out is its simplicity. It does not rely on noise, ceremony, or the usual theatrics of public office. It focuses on results. It focuses on systems. It focuses on function. And this is exactly what entrepreneurs need: a government that stops being a hurdle and starts behaving like an enabler.

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    The truth is that Nigeria’s biggest growth hack is not another grant programme or motivational initiative. It is competent public administration. It is a government that understands that a thriving private sector needs stable systems the way a plant needs light. When reforms create clarity, entrepreneurs gain scale. When processes become predictable, business risks shrink. When accountability increases, investor trust rises. These are not abstract benefits; they are the conditions under which new industries are born.

    The average entrepreneur may never directly interact with the Ministry of Interior, but they will feel its impact in countless ways: faster travel, smoother documentation, less paperwork, better compliance systems, reduced operational bottlenecks, and a governance environment that supports rather than stifles ambition. Public service efficiency has always been the hidden foundation of a strong private sector. For too long, that foundation has been weak. What we are seeing now is a rebuilding effort that matters more than most people realise.

    Nigeria’s real economic engine has never been crude oil. It has always been people — the small businesses, the freelancers, the founders, the creators, the innovators, the hustlers who convert scarcity into new enterprise. When governance works well, these people lift at once. When governance improves, entrepreneurship expands. When systems are clean, the economy becomes easier to navigate and easier to trust.

    These reforms signal a new kind of social contract: a government that delivers and a citizenry that builds. If this model spreads across ministries, Nigeria will not need endless economic summits to debate growth. Growth will happen naturally because the environment will finally support it. Entrepreneurship will strengthen because the systems around it stop sabotaging it.

    At its core, entrepreneurship is a relay race. Government hands the baton. Entrepreneurs run with it. Investors cheer from the sidelines. Society gets the win. For decades, Nigeria dropped the baton before the race even began. But the reforms we are seeing now suggest that perhaps, for the first time in a long time, the baton is being handed correctly.

    And when government works, entrepreneurs win — every single time.

    •Mohammed Basah, mobasah@gmail.com

  • When being a girl becomes a risk

    When being a girl becomes a risk

    Sir: I write with a broken heart. A heart so bruised it feels shattered. For weeks now, it has been one tragedy after another. One kidnapping case replaced by the next. Little girls taken from their schools. Families plunged into fear. We have reached a point where people whisper painful prayers like “may Nigeria never happen to me”, because we have watched the nation turn against its own.

    Only last week, schoolgirls in Kebbi were abducted. And even though news has just broken that they have been freed, the joy of their return cannot erase the trauma of their ordeal or the deeper truth it exposes about our country. In that same week, more than 300 students were taken from a Catholic school. These were girls who simply wanted to learn, to grow, to dream, and to build a life. Their only “fault” was the desire to be educated.

    There is no way to describe the agony of sending your child to school and then seeing on the news that she has been taken by ruthless, faceless men. You do not know whether she has eaten, whether she is being harmed, what fears she is battling, what pain she is enduring. Is it a crime to be a girl-child in this country? Why must she carry so much suffering on her small shoulders?

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    The rate of insecurity in Nigeria today is beyond alarming. Those who lead us, those who hold authority, are meant to use every tool within their reach to protect citizens. Yet what do we see? Is ordering schools to vacate the answer?

    Sending students home is not a solution. It strips these girls of their right to education. And then what happens when they resume? Will the cycle of fear, evacuation and abduction continue? What truly is the way forward?

    Our leaders must seek real, practical solutions to these recurring horrors. They must rise to their duties and be held accountable. Our girls are suffering. They are far too young to bear this kind of trauma. No girl, no child, no human being deserves this. No parent deserves the torment of knowing that their daughter is in the hands of men who may do only God knows what to her.

    We thank God for the safe return of the abducted Kebbi schoolgirls, but we refuse to let that relief distract us from the painful truth that no child should ever have been taken in the first place.

    •Rabi Ummi Umar, rabiumar058@gmail.com.

  • Save ARMTI Staff School, Ilorin from air and noise pollution

    Save ARMTI Staff School, Ilorin from air and noise pollution

    • By Owolabi Carter

    Sir: For over three decades, ARMTI Staff School situated at Jimba-Oja, Ilorin, Kwara State has been a beacon of learning and growth for generations of students. However, the recent establishment of a heavy industry beside the school has turned this haven into a toxic environment, threatening the health and well-being of students, teachers, and staff. Nigerians need to appreciate the dangers of air and noise pollution emanating from the industry and its devastating impact on the school community.

    The industry in question emits a cocktail of hazardous air pollutants, including particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These pollutants can cause respiratory problems, such as asthma and bronchitis, cardiovascular disease and stroke, neurological damage and cognitive impairment as ell as cancer and other long-term health hazards.

    The industry’s operations also generate high levels of noise pollution, which can lead to hearing loss and tinnitus, stress, anxiety, and sleep disturbances, decreased cognitive performance and academic achievement while increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

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    The proximity of the industry to ARMTI Staff School has created a toxic environment that jeopardizes the health and well-being of students, teachers, and staff. The school’s long history in the area, predating the industry by over 30 years, makes this situation even more egregious. The industry’s presence has compromised the school’s air quality, putting students and staff at risk, disrupted the learning environment, making it difficult for students to focus, created a sense of uncertainty and fear among parents, students, and staff, and caused a significant reduction in the population of students with parents having to withdraw there children from the school.

    The establishment of the industry near ARMTI Staff School has had a devastating impact on the school community. We urge policymakers, regulatory agencies, and industry leaders to take immediate action to mitigate the effects of air and noise pollution. This includes implementing stricter regulations and enforcement, investing in pollution-reducing technologies, and providing support and resources to affected communities.

    It is important for government to conduct regular air and noise monitoring to ensure compliance with regulatory standards, cause the company to implement measures to reduce pollution, such as cleaner production technologies, provide health screenings and support services for students and staff, while developing a comprehensive plan to mitigate the impact of the industry on the school community.

    By working together, we can protect the health and well-being of students, teachers, and staff at ARMTI Staff School, Ilorin and ensure that they can thrive in a safe and healthy environment.

    •Owolabi Carter,

    ARMTI, Ilorin, Kwara State.

  • As insecurity threatens the real estate sector

    As insecurity threatens the real estate sector

    • By ESV Adekunle Ishaq Olalekan

    Sir: The security challenge in Nigeria today, to say the least is worrisome. From the intractable Boko-Haram insurgency which has claimed thousands of lives and condemned several others to Internal Displaced Person Camps,  banditry in the northwest, agitations in the southeast and calls for secession, violent clashes between the Fulani herdsmen and farmers all over the country, renewed surge in kidnapping in major cities of Benue, Adamawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Plateau states, and villages among others, Nigeria is now one of the hotbeds of conflict in Africa.

    There are fresh concerns  that insecurity may worsen with the recent abduction of no fewer than 25 girls during a deadly attack on the Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary in Maga, Kebbi State, abduction of unspecified number of students and teachers in St. Mary’s Papiri Private Catholic Secondary School, Papiri, in Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, abduction of 38 Christian worshipers from the Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku community in Kwara State and several other cases across the country.

    It is more worrisome that insecurity is spreading to hitherto peaceful parts of the country, such as Abuja, and the southwest, especially Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Lagos and Osun where there had been resurgence of kidnappings. There were also similar cases in the south-south and southeast regions. Coupled with an intersection with poverty as a result of rising food prices which can be linked clearly to inaccessibility of farmlands taken over by criminal herdsmen and rampaging bandits, no doubt, we have reasons for serious concern.

    The rising insecurity has resulted in loss of lives and destruction of properties, with huge economic implications on housing and real estate business. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that the number of people forced to flee their homes has increased every year over the past decade. And this is a country that is already bedeviled with housing challenge, with housing shortage running into several millions. Many people, who are already housed, had their house razed down, while those displaced from their communities are left without homes, thereby worsening the overall deficit.

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    It should be noted that insurgency across the country hinder investments in the real estate sector, a significant contributor to employment. Real estate developers are moving out of construction sites, as insecurity escalates.

    I urge the government to take proactive, decisive, swift and a well coordinated approach to address the security challenge in the interest of real estate development and the economy as a whole. A new, and concerted push towards peacemaking is urgently required to reverse the trend, otherwise the real estate sector of the economy may soon be grounded.

    Government should reinvent and rearrange the entire security architecture and apparatus. There is urgent need for improved intelligence gathering, mobilize requisite law enforcement and security agents to critical locations in the territory, equip the security organs adequately to curb the challenges

    All stakeholders in security matters must be involved. I call on the new service chiefs to see their appointments as pure service to the nation, and employ all legitimate tactics to resolve the insecurity situation in the country. They should up their game in securing the country, otherwise it will adversely affect the real estate sector, and the economy if the current rate of insecurity continues.

    •ESV Adekunle Ishaq Olalekan,

    Lagos.