The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has bemoaned rising insecurity across the nation stating that there was nothing to celebrate in this year’s Democracy Day.
The group lamented the inability of federal government to protect life and property of citizens, saying that, “Nigeria nation is in a state of comatose, our condition is sine qua non to a disarray. Nigeria is bed-ridden and dying. Nigeria is not working and has failed”.
The group said this known during a press conference in Enugu after suspending their nationwide protest scheduled to hold yesterday, lamented the alarming rate of insecurity, banditry, kidnapping and terrorism in the country.
The association in a press statement read by the National Public Relations Officer, PRO of NANS, Comr, Ezenagu Victor said, “the fact is that government at various levels has shown little or no capacity in confronting the banes of insecurity and our crumbling economy in the nation.
The statement reads, “Today affords us another opportunity to retrospect on our journey so far as a nation and as Nigerians. We today lividly remember where we started from as a nation, the struggles and sacrifices of our heroes past; where we are today, the unfathomable damage done to the fabrics of our nation by our leaders; and where we are headed, alas for doom if nothing is done urgently!
“Obviously, Nigerians and Nigerian students are livid and irate because our joy has been turned to sorrows and our hearts broken by the pain and brutality that our fellow students have suffered in recent times ranging from the abduction of Students of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, #ABU 7, to the abduction of over 20 students of Greenfield University, down to Niger state and several other states. So many students have also lost their lives as a result of the clashes between the security agents and unknown gunmen which have led to Nigerian students living in perpetual fear.
Painfully, we live in a nation where students numbering over 200 can be easily kidnapped and taken out of their schools/town without any form of resistance from the security agencies, this calls for serious concern. We have waited so long for the security around schools to be greatly improved to ensure our students are secured but we have seen little or no improvement.
“These incessant cases of banditry, herdsmen attacks, operations of the unknown gunmen and kidnapping of our students calls for a radical and urgent move by the government to salvagethe situation. We have been daunted by the unending news of killings across the length and breadth of the nation such that death appears normal in our society today.
These developments are not only unacceptable; they portend great dangers to the very essence of our national unity, progress and development.
“We cant be hypocritically celebrating democracy when the masses cannot enjoy the dividends of democracy. Just recently the FG through the Ministry of Information suspended the activities of the micro-blogging platform Twitter, what again do we need to confirm that Nigeria is being led by an Authoritarian? There’s in fact nothing worth celebrating about today”, He said.
Nigerian Students are thus demand, “That the government at all levels rise up to the occasion and secure the lives and property of Nigerians which is their first and most important constitutional duty.
“That the security architecture around our campuses be re-jigged to ensure maximum security for Nigerian Students studying anywhere in Nigeria.
“That the FG as a matter of urgency should convoke a national dialogue to discuss the way forward for the nation. That the FG should rescind the suspension of Twitter because it remains one of the most viable platforms where our students connect with their counterparts across the globe”, The demand reads.
