Insecurity won’t end with guns — Amaechi warns

By Nnasom David

Former Minister of Transportation and ex-Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has warned that Nigeria’s information challenges volition persist unless leaders harvester economical empowerment and inclusive governance with subject force.

Speaking during an interactive league with younker members of the African Democratic Congress Coalition connected Sunday, October 12, 2025, Amaechi said the basal causes of insecurity successful Nigeria were poorness and inequality—not religion oregon ethnicity.

“Any person who wants to resoluteness the contented of insecurity successful Nigeria volition cognize that carnal policing unsocial volition not beryllium the solution. No substance however overmuch you equip the constabulary and the army, the different radical volition proceed to equip themselves to combat backmost the authorities actors,” helium said.

Amaechi stressed that over-reliance connected the subject without addressing economical deprivation lone fuels instability, noting that existent nationalist information begins with policies that grow opportunities and reconstruct citizens’ spot successful government.

“I said this erstwhile I was politician — if you contradict radical morganatic sources of income, they volition make illegitimate ones, specified arsenic kidnapping, banditry, and equipped robbery,” helium said.

The erstwhile politician added that the existent solution to insecurity lies successful carnal and societal improvement that uplifts communities and gives citizens a involvement successful nationalist stability.

Reflecting connected his tenure arsenic Rivers State Governor, Amaechi said his medication pursued a four-pronged attack to restoring bid — enforcing the law, gathering the capableness of information agencies, fostering inter-agency collaboration, involving citizens successful assemblage policing, and improving the societal and economical wellbeing of the people.

“When we got in, we started gathering superior schools successful each village, constructing superior healthcare centres, and opening roads successful agrarian communities. But beyond that, we localized the contracts, meaning contractors came from the aforesaid communities wherever the projects were sited. When you wage them, they wage their workers, and that wealth circulates successful the community. It created jobs, kept radical busy, and reduced crime,” helium explained.

Amaechi said this integrated attack — pairing instrumentality enforcement with improvement and national engagement — weakened the inducement for young radical to crook to crime.

“We didn’t conscionable say, ‘If we drawback you kidnapping, we sprout you.’ No. We created alternatives first, past policed the state. People knew that if they got progressive successful banditry oregon kidnapping, they were lawbreakers, not state fighters,” helium said.

He recalled that his administration’s strategy restored bid and nationalist confidence, noting that helium often verified the interaction of information policies personally.

“I personally went retired astatine nighttime to places that had erstwhile been unsafe, similar nightclubs — not for recreation, but to trial the effectiveness of the strategies we had enactment successful spot to combat insecurity and to corroborate that our information measures were restoring nationalist confidence,” helium revealed.

Amaechi concluded that Nigeria’s leaders indispensable larn from that exemplary by securing livelihoods arsenic a instauration for securing lives.

“You can’t constabulary hunger. You physique bid erstwhile radical person work, dignity, and religion successful government,” helium said.

The station Insecurity won’t extremity with guns — Amaechi warns appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.