A civil society chieftain and respected columnist, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim has highlighted how significant every community’s resolve is towards solving security problems especially the insurgency in the north east of Nigeria.Solving the problem of insurgency will depend on the people saying they have had enough, he said.
Jibrin made the assertions Friday in Abuja at the public presentation of the book on Community Resilience to Boko Haram in Abuja. According to him, important as the use of security forces may be in fighting insurgency, that will ultimately not be sufficient to tackle the challenge. Quite profoundly, he said after all, insurgency emanated from the community, thus it is the community that has the capacity to end it. This is obviously a big lesson for Nigerian communities facing security challenges.
But Jibrin who was lead researcher for book presented at Stonhedge Hotel also made more revealing assertions.He noted that the seriousness of the insurgency was novel as the country never had anything of its kind before. In the unfolding insurgency, he noted that over three million people were displaced and one of the greatest concerns of the researchers was that the insurgents want to stop education form the regions under attack: north east and north west.Citing a 2010 census in Borno state, he said only 23% children of primary school age were going to school,meaning that over 70% of children were out of school.
Giving more insight , he said the research focused on ‘community’; it also observed the geography of the insurgency as it was high in some areas but low in others.,Putting the entire country into context, Jibrin noted that there is a very high vulnerability to shocks.Our resilience to shocks is extremely low, the researcher said.
Shedding more light into the research, YZ Zau, executive director of CITAD said the research found out that resilience of Nigeria as a community is very weak.However, he noted there is no community that has zero resilience while there is none that is excellent.
Yau noted that communities that are inclusive have high level of resilience.The research, he said, was conducted in 6 states namely: Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi,Kano and Jigawa.
The book was unveiled by Princess Hamman-Obels, supported by men on the hight table.The occasion had Dr Kole Shettima, director, Africa Office, MacArthur Foundation as chairman .Immediate past vice Chancellor,Sokoto State University, Professor Nuhu Yaqub was also in attendance.
The book titled, “Understanding Community Resilience in the Context of Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria” has Jibrin Ibrahim, Chom Bagu and YZ Yau as editors.
