Currently there is an unprecedented wave of various but overlapping security issues in Nigeria ranging from extremist insurgencies, kidnapping to violent agitations, no part of the country is completely safe from violence and crime.
The recent surge insecurity has been linked to increasing poverty and illiteracy in the country. Presently youth unemployment stands at 32.5 percent and the country has seen its worst economic crisis in nearly over thirty years. Recent events unfolding with the insurgency leaves little to hope for, the armed opposition group is expanding, occupying territories and diversifying in strategies with each attach coming with loss of human lives or permanent disability. This tends to affect the women and children more. The farmers/herders clash has seen several women raped and killed, bandits ambushing and sacking villages, kidnapping women and rapping them.
Disputes between nomadic herders and farmers have lingered for a long time and recently become more deadly with increasing attacks. The recent frequent kidnapping of school children from their schools have has become the newest and most scary nightmares for families. It is estimated that more than one thousand students have been abducted since late 2020, some have lost their lives in the events and others only released on paying huge sums of ransom leaving families and victims psychologically traumatized. These criminals popularly known in the country with names such as bandits, unknown gun men, kidnappers etc. raid villages, travelers, boarding schools, hospitals and recently, the country’s defense academy to kidnap their victims and sometimes leaving carnage behind them.
On a daily basis, news of abduction and killings are always on the increase with no exemption to today 25th August 2021 with news like “Unknown gunmen abduct NASIEC secretary in Nasarawa”, “Suspected herders kill 36 in attack on Christian communities in Jos”, “bandits abduct widow 24 hours after husband’s death” among others.
Women are disadvantaged in the face of all these insecurity ravaging the country from being victims of kidnapping to rape and forceful marriages/cohabitation from the bandits. There is a growing concern on how this impacts the Nigerian society.
The United Nations security council in 2000 passed a resolution that emphasizes how important equal participation and full involvement of women in every effort at maintaining and promoting peace and security. This should be the focal point for galvanizing global efforts to tackle the many challenges faced by women in the face of the burgeoning insecurity.
By Chukwusolum Ugochukwu