The Senate is pushing for a fresh approach to Nigeria’s security crisis, advocating a National Youth Stabilisation Fund to address the social and economic factors driving violence, rather than relying solely on military force.
According to the Interim Report of the Senate Adhoc Committee on the National Security Summit, insecurity in Nigeria stems largely from unemployment, poverty, corruption, drug abuse, cultism, illiteracy, porous borders, and radicalisation, especially among youths vulnerable to recruitment by criminal networks and extremist groups.
The fund aims to tackle joblessness, hunger, addiction, and radicalisation while boosting local economies and strengthening community resilience in conflict-prone areas. Lawmakers also called for a modernised, intelligence-led security architecture, including digital surveillance, joint operations centres, inter-agency collaboration, and mobile courts for swift justice.
The report singled out the South-East, urging an end to weekly sit-at-home orders imposed by IPOB, and recommended the restoration of lands, cultural sites, and livelihoods seized by insurgents.
Other key proposals include regulating illegal mining, disrupting the financing of insecurity, empowering the NDLEA to tackle youth drug abuse, and establishing ward-level security liaison committees.
The Senate concluded that only a holistic, preventive, and people-centred strategy can secure lasting peace across Nigeria.
Senate Calls for Youth Stabilisation Fund, Tackles Root Causes of Insecurity
