A former Commissioner for Internal Security and Humanitarian Affairs in Niger State, Emmanuel Umar, says the wide uncovered spaces in the state helped to breed terrorism, banditry and other criminality.
Umar said this while delivering a lecture titled, “Ungoverned Spaces and National Security: A Personal Perspective”, at the Nigerian Army Heritage and Future Centre, on Thursday in Abuja.
He defined ‘ungoverned spaces’ as areas that lack effective governance and control by legitimate authority which can exist within boundaries of a country and in various forms.
Umar said that ungoverned spaces had presented significant challenges and remained a huge threat to national security, especially in Niger which has the largest landmass in Nigeria.
According to him, Niger State has 76,363 square kilometers of land and is bordered by six states of Kwara, Kogi, FCT, Kaduna, Zamfara and Kebbi; as well as Benin Republic.
“It has over 2,500 communities and 96 forest reserves and most of the rural communities are hard-to-reach areas due to either terrain or lack of access and infrastructures, with no or minimal presence of government institutions or facilities.
“Such spaces provide safe haven and breeding grounds for terrorism, banditry and all sorts of criminality.
“It allows easy recruitment, radicalization and training grounds, making it more difficult to monitor and police criminal activities.
“Ungoverned spaces facilitate easy criminal activities which include drug business and trafficking, arms and human smuggling, illegal mining of mineral resources and logging of economic trees.
“Criminal elements exploit the absence of law enforcement and regulation presence to operate freely at will, and engage in illegal extraction and exploitation of natural resources, thereby undermining the security and stability of the state,” the ex-commissioner said.
Umar explained that lack of effective governance often produce mass displacements of people who had became vulnerable to exploitation and often express their resentment against government institutions.
He added that such ungoverned spaces could also erode the authority and legitimacy of the state, allow non-state actors to assert control over specific areas, challenge constituted authorities, and undermine the state.
Umar said this would make it difficult to enforce legal systems, protect citizens’ right and maintaining social order, thus undermining public trust in government, spark civil disobedience and provide another opportunity for criminal networks to operate with impunity.
He said there was need to address the national security implication of ungoverned spaces through comprehensive and multidimensional approach, including effective governance, developmental efforts, security sector reforms, and strengthening institutions.
