The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has called on President Bola Tinubu to declare a national security emergency amid worsening insecurity across the country.

In a statement issued on Wednesday and signed by its spokesperson, Prof. Abubakar Jiddere, the group said Nigeria’s security situation had reached a critical stage and warned that urgent and decisive measures were needed to prevent the country from sliding into anarchy.

The Forum said many Nigerians now live in fear as communities continue to face attacks from criminal groups, while law-abiding citizens remain vulnerable.

“The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) expresses its deepest outrage and concern over the relentless collapse of security across the Federal Republic of Nigeria. No nation can claim progress when its citizens live in fear, its communities are under siege, and criminal elements operate with increasing boldness while millions of law-abiding citizens remain vulnerable,” the statement said.

Citing Section 14(2)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution, the NEF stressed that protecting lives and ensuring the welfare of citizens remain the primary responsibilities of government.

“Today, Nigerians are compelled to ask a painful but legitimate question: if the protection of lives and property is the foremost duty of government, why are citizens increasingly left to fend for themselves against kidnappers, terrorists, bandits, violent extremists, and organized criminal gangs?”

The Forum noted that while Nigeria has faced various security challenges since independence, including civil unrest, militancy, armed robbery and insurgency, the current wave of insecurity is unprecedented in its scale and spread.

According to the NEF, attacks, kidnappings and violent crimes have become common across several states, including Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Borno, Oyo, Edo, Enugu and Imo.

“From the forests of Zamfara and Katsina to the highways of Kaduna and Niger; from communities in Plateau and Benue to parts of Kogi, Kwara, Borno, Oyo, Edo, Enugu, Imo and beyond, violence has become a recurring feature of daily life. Communities are attacked, citizens are abducted, farmers are displaced from their lands, travellers are ambushed on major highways, and businesses are forced to operate under conditions of uncertainty and fear.”

The group expressed particular concern over the rise of kidnapping-for-ransom, describing it as a growing criminal enterprise fuelled by weak enforcement, porous borders, illegal arms proliferation and poor intelligence coordination.

“What began as isolated criminal incidents has evolved into a sophisticated criminal economy that exploits weak enforcement, porous borders, illegal arms proliferation, and inadequate intelligence coordination.”

The Forum warned that the consequences of insecurity are becoming increasingly severe, with farmers abandoning their lands, food production declining, rural economies collapsing, investors losing confidence and children being denied access to education.

“The consequences are devastating: farmers are abandoning farmlands; Food production is declining. Rural economies are collapsing; investors are losing confidence; children are deprived of education. Families are being pushed into poverty by ransom payments and displacement. Entire communities now live under the constant threat of attack. No serious nation can accept such a situation as normal.”

The NEF also raised concerns over what it described as inadequate security presence in many affected communities, delayed responses to attacks and limited prosecution of perpetrators.

It further called for investigations into illegal mining and other economic activities allegedly linked to insecurity in parts of the country.

“The Northern Elders Forum therefore calls on the Federal Government to immediately declare a National Security Emergency and implement extraordinary measures to reverse the current trajectory.”

Among its recommendations were stronger intelligence coordination among security agencies, sustained operations against kidnapping and banditry networks, prosecution of sponsors and financiers of criminal groups, auditing of illegal mining activities, improved protection for farming communities and schools, and greater transparency in security spending.

The Forum stressed that the issue transcends politics, ethnicity and regional interests, describing insecurity as a national emergency requiring urgent action.

“This is not a partisan issue. This is not a regional issue. This is not an ethnic issue. This is a national emergency.”

“Nigeria cannot prosper while its citizens live under fear. The blood of innocent Nigerians should trouble the conscience of every public office holder entrusted with the responsibility of governance. History will not judge leaders by the promises they made. It will judge them by the lives they protected, the communities they secured, and the nation they preserved.”

“The time for assurances has passed. The time for measurable action is now,” the statement added.