Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, has painted a grim picture of the country’s worsening insecurity crisis, revealing that nearly 150 million citizens have been directly affected by violence, displacement, and economic disruption.
Speaking in Abuja during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the National Counter Terrorism Centre and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ribadu said the toll of insecurity on the country’s most vital sector agriculture has been devastating.
“Insecurity is the biggest problem confronting us in every sector,” Ribadu said. “But agriculture, the backbone of our society, has suffered the most. When insecurity arrived, it interfered with our lives in ways we are still struggling to recover from. All of us, in one way or another, have been affected.”
The MoU is meant to use agribusiness and livelihood empowerment as tools to rebuild lives in communities ravaged by terrorism and violent extremism.
Ribadu stressed that Nigeria’s massive population makes the scale of the crisis unique. “We are talking about 120 to 150 million people affected. There is no country in the world facing what we are facing. It has turned our lives upside down.”
He called for a holistic, society-wide approach to tackling insecurity—beyond military might. He identified poverty, unemployment, and exclusion as core drivers that must be addressed to achieve lasting peace.
