The US and UK terror alert

Nigerians are still worried over the terror alert released by the United States government and the United Kingdom, asking their citizens against travelling to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). This alert has not stopped the heightening of tension in the country.

However,  I alongside many other Nigerians are worried that the Federal Government did not help matters when it downplayed the threat, saying that the country is safe. Obviously ignoring Nigeria’s government’s reaction, the US, in its bid to prevent casualty of any form, has activated evacuation of its staff and citizens.

We are indeed at a very precarious time in the history of our dear nation. The FG which is expected to provide security is always quick to read political meanings into such alerts which threaten the lives and property of citizens and residents within the country.  Self denial is no strategy and should never be considered as such. The Boko insurgency has worsened; banditry and its many ills have not abated; kidnapping has taken a more disturbing dimension; the economic downturn has been a most painful reality. Yet, it appears as though the generality of the masses live in a different reality from our leaders.

The geopolitical zones are all bedevilled by one pressing ailment or the other. Our current insecurity challenge has been worsened by the leadership deficit that plagues our country. Until something drastic is done, it may take a very long while before we can get a solution.

Stakeholders across the country have been calling on the nation’s leaders to heed the US warning. The travel advisory obviously shows that the US and UK governments value the lives of their citizens, unlike what operates in Nigeria. We must not always be reactionary when it comes to insecurity. We must be proactive.

Michael Lawrence, Abuja

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