If there is any issue in the country that needs urgent attention, it is the terrible insecurity situation in the Southeast. The problem has reached an alarming rate and it is high time politics, ethnicity and other unhealthy considerations were set aside so as to address the challenge squarely. It does not give joy that for the past years, the once peaceful zone has remained the epicentre of insecurity in the country. No day passes without a report of one kidnapping or the other in the region, particularly, in Enugu State. The Enugu-Ugwuogo-Opi Nsukka Road; 4-Corner-Udi Road; Old Udi-Oji River Road, and virtually all the express roads in the state have become kidnapping zones. People that go to work in Enugu from Nsukka and other towns in the state now do so at a high risk as the possibility of their safe arrival at their workplaces and return is not guaranteed.
Even when attending events in the villages, you are not safe. On Friday, August 25, there was an attempt to kidnap a classmate of mine and a journalist, Mr. Ikem Okuhu, at Umabor, Eha Alumona, Nsukka, during a burial ceremony, by men disguised as police officers. But for the intervention of friends and other people at the event, it would have been a different story. Other Southeastern states are not any better securitywise. Kidnapping, killing and other forms of insecurity have become the order of the day. Last Tuesday, the nation received the shocking news of the killing of about eight security operatives comprising soldiers, policemen and men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps at Umualumaku community, Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State. The Southeast definitely cannot continue like this. It is affecting the people’s source of livelihood, their health, their psychological well being and everything
You can imagine the people, having to live in fear over these years both in their homes, on the road, at public places, everywhere. It is high time the southeast governors came together, kept their political ambitions, their selfish interests behind and found a lasting solution to this insecurity problem that is destroying the region. Governance is not just about what you will gain as a leader. It should be more about what you should do to better the lots of your people. The immediate past governors of the region came up with the idea of setting up a security outfit, Ebubeagu, similar to Amotekun that exists in the Southwest but that was dead on arrival because of the selfish interests of the governors and their failure to work as a body. The current governors have shown a sign of their willingness to work together.
Rising from their meeting in Enugu some weeks ago, they made known their resolution to fight insecurity decisively in the region individually and collectively, in partnership with the Federal Government and other Stakeholders. However, it is over a month after the meeting. We expect to see the road map of how they intend to tackle the menace. The people have heard sweet talks and empty promises for a long time. What they want to see now is action. They want to see the governors truly committed to this cause through good governance and physical development of their states. Economic development of the region is key in solving this problem. By creating jobs and economic opportunities, the appeal of criminal activities for young people can be reduced. This can be achieved through investments in infrastructure, education, and entrepreneurship programmes. Sometimes when you go to a state like Enugu you wonder how they survive due to the dearth of industries
. Those involved in agriculture find it difficult to do so because their farms have been taken over by criminals. In a national television interview recently, the former Governor of Enugu State, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, spoke the mind of many people on the causes of youth restiveness and crime in the South East and the way forward. He listed unemployment and lack of sincere dialogue with the youth as the major things fuelling insecurity. The former PDP national chairman observed that despite the fact that there are no jobs, the young people also feel extremely marginalized in their own country. They feel that instead of the Federal Government dialoguing with them, the various governments of the South East are in close cooperation with the federal government to stifle their agitation and they react by fighting back.”The country does not give them any hope and they accuse us their leaders of having failed them so they want self-help and we work very hard to counsel them that self-help will not take them anywhere, that it can only bring federal action to eliminate those who resort to self-help”, he said.
Coupled with these is the endless, senseless, mandatory Mondays sit-at-home order.  It is difficult to comprehend why the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) or whatever group that gives such order has continued on this fruitless trajectory for many years. How can you claim to be fighting for the liberation of your people when you continue to kill them, maim them, destroy their property and cause them pain?  Somebody will be sitting comfortably in a safe foreign country and issuing orders on how to make his homeland unsafe and some people are sheepishly carrying out the order? We have seen some past and current governors like Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State and Peter Mba of Enugu State making efforts to put an end to the sit-at-home order, yet it persists. The criminals seem to have dared them by continuing the rain of mayhem on the states
So, there is no end in sight to the insecurity problem in the South East without the youths, the politicians who sometimes fuel the crisis and other stakeholders. It was good to hear the South East governors say they will partner with the federal government to tackle the high insecurity in the region because without the federal government’s commitment, the situation may not change. Ours is a system where the federal government is in charge of the police, army and other security agencies, where on paper the governors are said to be the chief security officers of their states but in practice they are not. With this, it is almost an impossible task for the governors to handle the situation effectively. They lack the capacity to face the criminals. The federal government must address the underlying grievances of the South Easterners through dialogue and negotiation. As have been severally suggested, the government must find a political solution to Nnamdi Kanu’s case.
The current insecurity problem in the South East is rooted in this case and the sooner it was addressed, the better. As Nwodo suggested, “The federal government should negotiate with our youth. Invite the young people and leaders from the zone and show the government’s sincerity and commitment to solving the problem. Find out from these young people why they are kidnapping, raping their people. The government and leaders of the zone will then make a commitment to solving this problem.” There is also a need for political and economic inclusion of the zone. Ensuring that the region is adequately represented in the political landscape and receives its fair share of economic resources can help address some of the underlying grievances that fuel insecurity. The nepotic tendencies in President Bola Tinubu’s appointments as being observed by many people is enough to aggravate the insecurity and agitation not only in the South East but also in other regions of the country.
Nigeria belongs to all the states and all the tribes and they all deserve to be involved in the administration of the country. That is what the Federal Character Principle which is enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution entails. To fight the lingering internal insurrection, those in authority must dispense equity, fairness and good governance. There must be good governance. Without these, the states and the country at large will continue to grapple with insecurity.

By: Calista Ezeaku