Professor Oludayo Tade, President of the Nigeria Society for Criminology (NSC), has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intensify efforts to secure Nigeria and protect Nigerians. Speaking on Sunday, Tade emphasized that the insecurity problem facing Nigeria has both national and transnational dimensions.
Constitutional Duty to Protect Lives
“As the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the president must protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria and ensure that Nigerians are free from fear of travelling on the roads or being abducted from school and their communities,” Tade said. “The first constitutional duty is to protect lives and properties, and not doing that efficiently indicates failure.” He stressed that Nigerians need to experience and feel secure, and Nigeria must be protected from terrorists entering the country. “Their local collaborators in and outside government must be fished out and punished. The president must display political will to secure Nigeria and Nigerians.”
2026 International Conference of NSC
In a release signed by the NSC President and made available to journalists in Ibadan, Professor Tade stated that the just concluded 2026 International Conference of NSC was themed “Securing Nigeria and Protecting Nigerians.” He emphasized that the government must improve the state of the economy to reduce the propensity to commit crime while sustaining attacks on bandits, kidnappers, and terrorists.
Welfare for Security Personnel
Professor Tade admonished President Tinubu to review upward welfare packages for security personnel who became incapacitated or lost their lives in the counter-insurgency campaign. He added that heroes protecting Nigeria and Nigerians and their families deserve better welfare protection.
Keynote Address by Professor Jibrin Ibrahim
Speaking on the 4th International Conference of NSC which held at Cosmopolitan University Abuja, Professor Tade stated that the keynote speaker, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, Senior Fellow at the Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja, called on the federal government to perform its work of protecting Nigeria and Nigerians.
“Nigeria is tearing at the seams because of a profound sense of insecurity amongst citizens who feel that the situation is so terrible that disintegration may not be that bad,” Ibrahim said. “Even that option is, however, just another pathway to chaos as the outcome might be worse. The only way forward is for the Nigerian State to do its work, secure the country, and protect citizens. Our first step should be to realise that in spite of everything going on, there is value in protecting Nigeria.”
Three-Dimensional Crisis
According to Professor Ibrahim, “The Nigerian State is undergoing a three-dimensional crisis. The first one affects the political economy and is generated mainly by public corruption over the past four decades that has created a run on the treasury at the national and state levels threatening to consume the goose that lays the golden egg. The second one is the crisis of citizenship symbolised by ethno-regionalism, the Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herder killings, agitations for Biafra, militancy in the Niger Delta and indigene/settler conflicts. The third element relates to the frustration of the country’s democratic aspirations in a context in which the citizenry believes in ‘true democracy’ confronted with a reckless political class that is corrupt, self-serving and manipulative. These issues have largely broken the social pact between citizens and the State.”
Re-election of NSC Executive
At the conference, Professor Oludayo Tade and his executive team were returned for a second term in office following what was described as exemplary leadership of the society. The Chairman, Board of Trustees, NSC, Professor Etannibi Alemika praised the executive and called for greater research evidence on the social problems confronting Nigeria to help policy actors make informed decisions.
International Participation
The international conference had in attendance scholars and practitioners from within Nigeria and the international community, including the President of the Canadian Sociological Association and renowned expert in the field of criminology and terrorism, Professor Temitope Oriola.
