Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has vowed to contain Nigeria’s insecurity within one year if elected president in the 2027 general election.
Atiku made the pledge in an interview with the BBC monitored by The News Chronicle, where he outlined his plans to tackle insurgency, banditry and other security challenges confronting the country.
The former vice president said his administration would increase the number of security personnel, provide them with adequate equipment and funding, while creating jobs for unemployed youths who, he argued, are increasingly being drawn into criminal activities.
According to him, Nigeria, with a population of more than 200 million people, has fewer than 200,000 police officers, describing the manpower available to secure the country as inadequate.
Atiku said: “We are over 200 million people, and yet we have less than 200,000 policemen. Egypt, which has about 80 million people, has one million policemen on the streets.
“This country needs to invest in the police and the armed forces to make sure that we guarantee peace for everybody.”
He expressed confidence that his proposed measures would produce significant results within his first year in office.
“And believe me, within one year we can control this insurgency and insecurity that is all over the place,” Atiku said.
Atiku also linked Nigeria’s security crisis to unemployment, saying many young people are pushed into banditry and other criminal activities because they lack economic opportunities.
He promised to provide funding and incentives to create jobs for youths as part of his broader security strategy.
The ADC candidate further proposed strengthening regional cooperation among West African countries and reviving the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) to combat insecurity across the sub-region.
He argued that closer security cooperation with countries such as Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso would help address cross-border movements by bandits and other criminal groups.
Atiku said Nigeria should work towards restoring unity within ECOWAS and establish a standing regional force capable of responding collectively to insurgency and insecurity.
