Atiku Abubakar has berated the current administration’s effort to combat the security challenges facing the nation by saying that the insecurity in Nigeria today is worse than the Nigeria Civil War, which lasted for three years.
The former vice-president, in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation monitored in Kaduna on Friday, noted that when his administration was in government, much attention was given to security unlike now when the security agents were not provided with the necessary equipment to work.
According to Atiku, based on his suggestion while in government, they were able to recruit 50,000 policemen on a monthly basis to meet with the best international standard.
He noted that it would not be possible to combat the insecurity in the nation is the security agencies expected to tackle the problem were not adequately financed.
He said, “All you see today are security men with guns, which should not be the case.”
He said the kind of sophistication emerging today in respect to the security challenges would be hard to tackle because the money meant for the purpose had been allegedly stolen.
Atiku said, “To tell the truth, all through my lifetime in Nigeria, I have never witnessed such a deteriorating state of security like what is happening now, it has surpassed even what happened when we fought the civil war.
“But there are reasons for that; first, our governments could not pay attention to the issue of security; secondly, issues of security now are different from what obtained in the past.
“Before, we had different categories of security agents; we had those at the federal level, at the state level and those at the local government level. But within the past few years, you know, this arrangement has been collapsed into one.
“But with the kind of sophistication that is emerging, unless those who understand it are engaged, it will be difficult to resolve all these problems about insecurity.”
Mr Atiku further said that due to the approach of the government, attention has shifted away from a proactive approach of security; he said that rather than equipping the police force and engaging them in training to meet the peculiar challenges of the day, money is being diverted into private pockets at an alarming rate.