Security Expert Warns Against Dangerous Stereotypes
By Folashade Peterson
A leading security consultant has urged Nigerians to abandon the damaging habit of linking criminality to ethnicity or religion, warning that such generalisations threaten the very fabric of national unity.
Dr. Agodi Kanu, a community policing specialist and visiting trainer at the Nigeria Police Force Training School, gave the warning during a telephone interview with our Correspondent in Gombe on Friday.
The expert cautioned that the rising trend of stigmatising entire ethnic groups for the actions of a few offenders, whether kidnappers, bandits or terrorists, would only serve to entrench division and undermine social cohesion.
“Crime is not unique to any tribe or religion,”
Dr. Kanu stressed
He called on Nigerians to consciously reject any rhetoric capable of eroding national harmony.
Dr. Kanu observed that certain individuals were exploiting some of the stereotypes to commit offences in various parts of the country, deliberately casting suspicion on particular communities.
“We also know that some criminal elements leverage that very nomenclature to carry out their activities, banking on the assumption that it must be herders from a particular background. Meanwhile, we see people from the very same communities or religions committing crimes among themselves,” said Dr. Kanu.
He stressed that offences perpetrated by outsiders rarely happen in isolation, saying “they almost always require the complicity of an insider, someone who knows the language, understands the terrain and is familiar with local movements.”
The Security expert called on Nigerians to take a more active role in community security by heeding the advice of law enforcement agencies, forging robust neighbourhood watch networks with and investing in youth empowerment to offer young people a sense of purpose.
He urged the government to ramp up investment in technological solutions to counter emerging threats, insisting that without such innovation, the fight against banditry, insurgency and other forms of lawlessness would prove increasingly difficult.
Dr. Kanu advised security forces to exercise restraint on social media, avoiding the disclosure of sensitive operational details that criminals could use to their advantage.
“Finish your operation, then share your success. These criminals are watching social media closely. They have technologically savvy individuals analysing every move and every statement, looking for ways to frustrate government efforts,” he said.
