The Director General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Dr. Joseph Ochogwu, has linked Nigeria’s growing insecurity to a weak economy and rising youth unemployment, saying idle youths are being pushed into banditry and other crimes.

Ochogwu said this on Tuesday during a visit to the Media Trust Group headquarters in Abuja.

He said the country’s declining productive base has left many young people without livelihoods, creating a fertile ground for criminal activities.

“Our productive capacity is weak. If you travel across the nooks and crannies of this country, you will see youths without engagement. Before, they were in the farms, producing. Today, many of them are not. Those energies are now being diverted into crime,” he said.

“They are moving from production to criminality, illicit mining, banditry and other forms of crime,” he said.

Ochogwu said economic failure remains at the heart of the country’s conflict landscape, stressing that peace cannot be achieved without strengthening production.

He noted that Nigeria’s security challenges cannot be addressed through military force alone, calling for greater focus on non-kinetic approaches.

The IPCR DG warned that the situation could worsen if urgent steps are not taken to absorb unemployed youths into productive activities.

Ochogwu also identified weak local government systems as a major structural problem driving insecurity.

“Governance is local. Peace is local. Conflict is local,” he said. “Until we get our local government system right, anything we are doing will remain an abstraction.”

He explained that failures in basic education and primary healthcare at the grassroots level are compounding the problem.

Ochogwu further said there is often a gap between research findings and policy implementation, despite clear evidence on drivers of insecurity.

Responding, the Deputy Editorial Director and Chairman of the Editorial Board of Daily Trust, Hamza Idris, who spoke on behalf of the Group Chief Executive Officer, Ahmed I. Shekarau, said the organisation was ready to partner with institutions working to address insecurity and promote national development.

Idris said tackling insecurity requires addressing its root causes, particularly unemployment.

“Once citizens are gainfully employed, the tendency of them being taken away by bandits and other criminal elements will reduce,” he said.

He added that the organisation would support efforts aimed at addressing the drivers of insecurity across the country. (Daily Trust)