The Presidency has admitted that Nigeria is in ‘dire times’ because of the security situation in the country.
The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said this in a chat with ‘The Interview’ magazine, while blaming the situation on previous corrupt administrations.
Adesina said, “The security challenges are enormous. Insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, communal strifes, criminality generally.
“These are truly dire times, and as the President has said, they are results of the corruption, decay and neglects of the past.
“But is the government overwhelmed? By no means. The challenges are being tackled, and we will eventually overcome. Nigeria is greater than the challenges, no matter the hidden hostile hands that are encouraging them. The country shall be victorious.”
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Admitting that Nigeria is heavily divided across religious and tribal lines, Adesina said, “Nigeria has never been without social and ethnic tensions. That is due to the nature of our union, which was a forceful one in 1914. It was an unwilling union, forcefully consummated by Lord Frederick Lugard. Since then, it had been uneasy, with grave suspicion rifling through the polity.
“It was not helped by the colonial masters themselves, who played one ethnic nationality against the other, to serve their own interests. These tensions spiked in recent times, particularly with the advent of democracy, in which people could make utterances, however indecorous or divisive they may be.
“And you found deep fissures being driven into the various peoples and regions of the country. Awareness of where one came from became heightened, other than national cohesion.
“Politicians cashed in on our fault lines – ethnicity, religion, language, state of origin – and many others, to divide the people, and advance their own interests. That is what has led us to where we are today.”