The Promise to Protect: Three Years Later, Nigerians Are Still Waiting for Safety

 

The Promise to Protect: Three Years Later, Nigerians Are Still Waiting for Safety

By Dr. Nana Akaeze
The Awake Voice Series: Nigerian Decides 2027 and Beyond

This is my voice. This is my belief.

Let me state this clearly from the beginning.

I am not writing this as a supporter of Peter Obi. I am not an Obidient, an “Obidiot,” or a voice for any political camp. This is not about defending one party or attacking another.

I am writing as a concerned Nigerian who wants a country that works for all.

I do not want leaders who only say “Yes, Daddy” to power, party, godfathers, religious influence, ethnic loyalty, or political convenience while ordinary citizens are left in fear.

I want leaders who honor their oath of office.

I want leaders who understand that public office is not a throne, but a sacred responsibility. The first duty of government is not propaganda, self-praise, or political survival. The first duty of government is to protect lives and property.

On May 29, 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office with the promise of Renewed Hope.

On May 29, 2026, three years later, the question before Nigerians is no longer whether the promise sounded good. The question is whether ordinary Nigerians can feel it in the most basic area of national life: safety.

A government can speak about reforms. A government can speak about infrastructure. A government can speak about foreign investment, economic recovery, market confidence, and long-term sacrifice. But before any of those things can truly matter to the ordinary citizen, there must first be safety.

A farmer must be safe enough to go to the farm.

A child must be safe enough to go to school.

A teacher must be safe enough to teach.

A trader must be safe enough to travel.

A worshipper must be safe enough to worship.

A traditional ruler must be safe enough to live among his people.

A family must be safe enough to sleep without fear.

A Nigerian in the diaspora must be safe enough to believe that home is still home.

This is why I write today with pain, but also with clarity.

I am not writing this as a supporter of Peter Obi. I am not writing this as an Obidient. I am not writing this for any political party, movement, or candidate. I am writing as a concerned Nigerian citizen who believes that leaders must be held accountable, especially when human lives are involved.

This is not about political bitterness.

This is not about attacking one side to praise another.

This is not about campaign noise.

This is about the basic job of government: protect your citizens.

Protect their lives.

Protect their homes.

Protect their farms.

Protect their roads.

Protect their schools.

Protect their dignity.

Protect their right to exist without living at the mercy of criminals.

Security is not a luxury. Security is not a favor. Security is not something citizens should beg for. Security is the first duty of government.

And three years after President Tinubu came into office, too many Nigerians are still living as though the state is absent.

Before becoming President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s campaign recognized insecurity as one of Nigeria’s greatest national emergencies. His Renewed Hope action plan promised serious measures to confront terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, weak policing, poor security coordination, and vulnerable rural communities.

For the record, Nigerians were promised Anti-Terrorist Battalions to confront terrorism, banditry, and violent extremism. They were promised upgraded tactical communications and logistics for security agencies. They were promised improved weapon systems to meet modern threats. They were promised stronger local arms production so Nigeria would not remain dangerously dependent on foreign supply.

They were promised better salaries and welfare for security personnel. They were promised economic and social assistance for communities affected by security crises. They were promised a critical infrastructure protection plan. They were promised the revitalization of Rangers or Forest Guards to protect forests, rural communities, and border areas.

They were promised enhanced protection of rural and border communities. They were promised better management of the national identity database for security purposes. They were promised police reform and repositioning. They were promised support for civilian neighborhood watch groups and locally based security institutions.

They were promised a reduction in police attachment to VIP protection so that more officers could protect ordinary citizens. They were promised collaboration with the National Assembly and state governments to reform Nigeria’s security architecture.

These promises were not ordinary campaign decorations. They were serious promises made to a wounded nation.

They showed that the candidate understood Nigeria’s pain before he entered Aso Rock. He understood that terrorism was destroying communities. He understood that banditry was spreading fear. He understood that kidnapping had become an economy. He understood that forests had become hideouts. He understood that rural communities had been abandoned. He understood that the police system needed reform. He understood that citizens were tired of watching elites protected while ordinary people remained exposed.

That is why Nigerians have the right to ask today:

Where are the results?

Where are the Anti-Terrorist Battalions Nigerians can point to with confidence?

Where is the visible transformation in intelligence, response time, and rescue operations?

Where are the Forest Guards protecting rural communities?

Where is the police reform ordinary Nigerians can feel?

Where is the reduction of VIP police protection that returns officers to communities?

Where is the security architecture that makes citizens believe the state is stronger than criminals?

Where is the proof?

This is not to say that nothing has been done. No honest citizen should say that government has done absolutely nothing. The President has spoken about defeating terrorism and banditry. In February 2026, the State House reported that President Tinubu described terrorism and banditry as unacceptable and stated that Nigeria would overcome them. Reuters also reported in November 2025 that he declared a nationwide security emergency, ordered mass recruitment into the police and military, authorized the use of National Youth Service Corps camps for training, and directed the withdrawal of police officers from VIP guard duties for redeployment to conflict zones.

But here is the hard truth: emergency declarations do not automatically mean safety has arrived.

Recruitment announcements do not automatically protect villages.

Redeployment orders do not automatically secure highways.

Promises do not automatically rescue abducted children.

Government effort matters, but citizen experience matters more.

And the experience of too many Nigerians is still fear.

Human Rights Watch’s 2026 Nigeria report, citing SBM Intelligence, stated that 2,938 people were kidnapped in the North-West between July 2024 and June 2025 alone. Zamfara reportedly recorded 1,203 abductions, Kaduna 629, Katsina 566, and Sokoto 358. These are not just statistics. These are human beings. These are families. These are mothers and fathers. These are children and grandparents. These are traders, farmers, workers, students, and ordinary citizens whose lives were turned into ransom negotiations.

How does a country continue like this?

How does a nation normalize kidnapping?

How does a government speak of progress when citizens are being priced like commodities in the hands of criminals?

This is the part that should break every heart: kidnapping in Nigeria has gone beyond isolated crime. It has become an organized economy. It has become a business chain. It feeds on fear. It depends on informants, weapons suppliers, hideouts, transporters, negotiators, ransom collectors, weak policing, slow response, and sometimes the silence or complicity of those who should know better.

When criminals can abduct people and negotiate openly with families, the state is being challenged.

When families must raise ransom money because they cannot trust immediate rescue, the state is being humiliated.

When communities must organize local survival arrangements because official protection is too far away, the state is failing its first duty.

This is why the security promises must not be forgotten.

Nigeria was promised protection, not explanations.

Nigeria was promised reform, not excuses.

Nigeria was promised action, not ceremony.

Nigeria was promised Renewed Hope, not renewed fear.

One of the most painful signs of insecurity is the repeated targeting of schools. Reuters reported that the mass kidnapping at St. Mary’s School in Niger State, where students and teachers were abducted, exposed the continuing struggle of President Tinubu’s security policy. When children become bargaining chips in the hands of criminals, a nation must stop everything and ask itself what has gone wrong.

A country that cannot protect its schools cannot protect its future.

A country where parents send children to school with fear has lost something sacred.

Education should be a path to hope, not a doorway to trauma.

The government must understand that every school abduction sends a message far beyond the affected community. It tells parents that the state may not be able to protect their children. It tells girls that education may come with danger. It tells teachers that service may cost them their freedom. It tells rural communities that their children are not safe enough to dream.

This is not acceptable.

Mr. President, you promised to protect rural and border communities. Yet rural Nigeria remains one of the most vulnerable parts of the country. Farmers are attacked. Villages are raided. Communities are displaced. Forests are used as criminal corridors. Roads become traps. In many places, the people who feed the nation are afraid to cultivate the land.

No country can solve hunger if farmers cannot farm safely.

No country can solve inflation if food-producing communities are under siege.

No country can speak of development while rural people live as if they are outside the protection of the state.

The promise of Forest Guards or Rangers was important because Nigeria’s forests and rural corridors have become central to the insecurity crisis. Criminal groups use ungoverned spaces to hide, regroup, store weapons, keep abducted victims, and launch attacks. If those forests remain unsafe, then highways, villages, farms, and schools will remain exposed.

So again, Nigerians must ask: where is the full implementation?

Where are the trained and properly supervised Forest Guards?

Where is the legal framework?

Where is the intelligence coordination?

Where is the funding?

Where is the accountability?

Where is the proof that the forests are being reclaimed?

Another painful promise was the reduction of police attachment to VIP protection so more officers could protect ordinary citizens. This promise touched a deep wound in Nigerian society. For too long, Nigeria has appeared to protect power more than people.

A politician can move with security.

A wealthy person can hire protection.

A powerful official can sleep behind guarded walls.

But what about the market woman?

What about the farmer?

What about the teacher?

What about the student?

What about the villager?

What about the traveler on a lonely road?

What about the poor family that cannot call anyone when kidnappers strike?

What about the ordinary Nigerian whose only protection is prayer?

A nation cannot secure only the elite and call itself secure.

Security must not be a privilege of class. Security must be a right of citizenship.

This is why police reform cannot remain a slogan. Nigeria needs a police system that is trained, equipped, trusted, disciplined, community-rooted, intelligence-driven, and accountable. We cannot continue to ask citizens to trust a system that often arrives late, lacks tools, lacks manpower, or lacks public confidence.

But we must also be fair to the police and soldiers themselves. Many security officers are also victims of a broken system. They are sent into danger with inadequate welfare, insufficient equipment, poor support, and enormous pressure. Some have died defending the nation. Some have been overrun by better-armed attackers. Some live under stress that the public rarely sees.

If Nigeria wants security personnel to defend the people, Nigeria must also defend the dignity of those personnel.

Better welfare is not charity.

Better equipment is not luxury.

Better training is not optional.

Better intelligence is not decoration.

A country cannot send men and women to fight terrorism and banditry while failing to provide the tools, morale, and institutional discipline needed to succeed.

Still, no amount of sympathy for security personnel can erase the government’s responsibility. Leadership must coordinate. Leadership must fund. Leadership must supervise. Leadership must demand results. Leadership must punish failure. Leadership must confront corruption. Leadership must make citizens feel that government is present.

The U.S. Department of State’s April 2026 Nigeria Travel Advisory still tells travelers to reconsider travel to Nigeria because of crime, terrorism, unrest, kidnapping, and inconsistent availability of health care services. It also identifies several states as “Do Not Travel” areas due to terrorism, crime, kidnapping, unrest, and armed violence.

This is not just a foreign advisory. It is a mirror.

It affects how investors see Nigeria.

It affects how tourists see Nigeria.

It affects how universities, organizations, and companies assess risk.

It affects how Nigerians abroad think about returning home.

And this brings me to the fear of the diaspora.

Many Nigerians in the diaspora are watching Nigeria with pain. They love their country. They miss home. They want to return for business, family, retirement, investment, service, or simply the dignity of belonging. But many are afraid.

They are afraid of kidnapping.

They are afraid of unsafe roads.

They are afraid of poor emergency response.

They are afraid of being targeted because people think they have money.

They are afraid of traveling from the airport to their villages.

They are afraid of taking their children home.

They are afraid that the Nigeria they love may not be able to protect them.

That fear should shame any serious government.

A country should be safe enough for its sons and daughters to return.

A country should not make its diaspora feel like strangers to their own homeland.

A country should not force citizens abroad to choose between foreign hostility and home insecurity.

This matters even more now because Nigerians in several countries are facing rising tension, hostility, and uncertainty. Reuters reported in May 2026 that at least 130 Nigerians in South Africa requested repatriation after protests targeting foreigners. The Associated Press also reported that Nigeria’s foreign minister said 130 Nigerians were set to be voluntarily repatriated amid renewed anti-immigration protests in South Africa. Reuters separately reported that nearly 300 Ghanaians were repatriated from South Africa after anti-immigrant protests, showing that the wider African migrant experience is becoming more fragile.

This should concern Nigeria deeply.

When Nigerians abroad face hostility, where should they go?

When foreign countries become unsafe or unwelcoming, where is home?

When diaspora Nigerians are asked to leave, harassed, threatened, or made uncomfortable in host countries, can Nigeria receive them with dignity?

Can Nigeria protect them?

Can Nigeria give them roads they can travel safely?

Can Nigeria give them hospitals they can trust?

Can Nigeria give them communities where they are not seen as ransom targets?

Can Nigeria give them a country to return to?

This is not emotional exaggeration. This is a real diaspora question.

A nation’s strength is measured not only by how it treats citizens inside its borders, but also by whether citizens outside its borders can look homeward with confidence.

If home is unsafe, the diaspora becomes psychologically homeless.

They may have passports. They may have degrees. They may have jobs. They may have houses abroad. But deep inside, they still ask: where do I go if I must return?

That question should not be painful.

But for many Nigerians, it is.

This is why insecurity is not just a northern problem. It is not just a rural problem. It is not just a security-agency problem. It is not just a government talking point. It is a national identity crisis.

It affects food.

It affects education.

It affects business.

It affects investment.

It affects migration.

It affects family life.

It affects the dignity of Nigerians abroad.

It affects whether people still believe in the Nigerian state.

President Tinubu is now moving toward a second-term argument. Reuters reported that he is seeking re-election in January 2027. That means Nigerians have every right to ask hard questions. Before any government asks for renewed mandate, it must show renewed protection.

This is not hatred.

This is accountability.

This is citizenship.

This is democracy.

It is wrong to insult citizens for asking whether campaign promises have been fulfilled. It is wrong to call every criticism opposition politics. It is wrong to reduce national pain to party loyalty. When people are kidnapped, hunger is not APC. Grief is not PDP. Fear is not Labour Party. Insecurity does not ask for party card before entering a home.

A kidnapped child does not cry in political language.

A mother whose child is missing does not weep by party affiliation.

A farmer who cannot farm does not measure fear by political ideology.

A diaspora Nigerian afraid to return home is not being partisan.

Security is bigger than politics.

Security is bigger than 2027.

Security is the foundation of nationhood.

Mr. President, the people are not asking for luxury. They are asking to live. They are asking to travel. They are asking to farm. They are asking to worship. They are asking to educate their children. They are asking to sleep. They are asking to return home.

That should not be too much to ask from any government.

The promise to protect must now become measurable. Nigerians need to know what has been done, what remains undone, and what will be completed before the next election.

Tell Nigerians how many Anti-Terrorist Battalions have been created and where they are operating.

Tell Nigerians how many forests have been reclaimed from criminal groups.

Tell Nigerians how many Forest Guards have been recruited, trained, equipped, and deployed.

Tell Nigerians how many police officers have truly been removed from unnecessary VIP protection and returned to community safety.

Tell Nigerians how many terror financiers, arms suppliers, informants, ransom networks, and collaborators have been prosecuted.

Tell Nigerians which highways are now safer.

Tell Nigerians which schools have received real protection.

Tell Nigerians which rural communities have been restored.

Tell Nigerians how many displaced families have returned home safely.

Tell Nigerians how security budgets are translating into security outcomes.

Tell Nigerians when fear will stop being the price of citizenship.

Nigeria does not need another beautiful speech.

Nigeria needs proof.

The President must make security the center of governance, not one talking point among many. The government must secure farms, schools, roads, markets, worship centers, forests, and border communities. It must strengthen intelligence. It must improve response time. It must reform policing. It must support state and community-level security within a lawful and accountable framework. It must cut off the ransom economy. It must confront illegal arms. It must protect victims. It must rebuild trust.

And it must do all this with urgency.

Because people are tired.

Families are tired.

Communities are tired.

The diaspora is tired.

Nigeria is tired.

A country of over 200 million people cannot continue to live as if insecurity is normal. A nation with Nigeria’s talent, history, faith, culture, and possibility cannot continue to surrender its citizens to fear.

Mr. President, do the basic job.

Protect Nigerians.

Protect the poor.

Protect the rural communities.

Protect the schools.

Protect the highways.

Protect the farms.

Protect the diaspora’s hope of return.

Protect the dignity of the nation.

Because without safety, Renewed Hope remains incomplete.

Without safety, economic reform cannot breathe.

Without safety, agriculture cannot flourish.

Without safety, education cannot stand.

Without safety, investment cannot grow.

Without safety, diaspora return becomes a dream delayed by fear.

Without safety, there can be no meaningful second-term argument.

Three years later, Nigerians are still waiting for safety.

Mr. President, Nigeria is waiting for proof.

This is about Nigeria.

This is about the farmer who cannot farm safely, the mother afraid to send her child to school, the traveler who prays before entering the road, and the diaspora Nigerian who wants to come home but fears insecurity.

This is about asking government to do its most basic job:

Keep Nigerians safe

References

Associated Press. (2026, May 4). 130 Nigerians seek repatriation after latest anti-immigration protests in South Africa.
https://apnews.com/article/a45b2df526f7ed248ed7c222fb359559

Human Rights Watch. (2026). World Report 2026: Nigeria.
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2026/country-chapters/nigeria

Reuters. (2025, November 25). Nigeria’s mass school kidnapping exposes Tinubu’s security struggles.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerias-mass-school-kidnapping-exposes-tinubus-security-struggles-2025-11-26/

Reuters. (2025, November 26). Nigeria’s Tinubu declares security emergency, orders mass recruitment of police and army.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerias-tinubu-declares-security-emergency-orders-mass-recruitment-police-army-2025-11-26/

Reuters. (2026, May 4). At least 130 Nigerians seek repatriation from South Africa after protests, Abuja says.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/least-130-nigerians-seek-repatriation-south-africa-after-protests-abuja-says-2026-05-04/

Reuters. (2026, May 27). Ghanaians repatriated from South Africa after anti-immigrant protests.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ghanaians-repatriated-south-africa-after-anti-immigrant-protests-2026-05-27/

Reuters. (2026, May 29). Nigeria’s Tinubu says reforms stabilising economy despite hardship.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerias-tinubu-says-reforms-stabilising-economy-despite-hardship-2026-05-29/

State House, Abuja. (2026, February 9). President Tinubu: We’ll overcome terrorism, banditry.
https://statehouse.gov.ng/president-tinubu-well-overcome-terrorism-banditry/

Tinubu, B. A. (2023). Renewed Hope 2023: Action Plan for a Better Nigeria.
https://media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2023/02/RENEWED-HOPE_compressed.pdf

U.S. Department of State. (2026, April 8). Nigeria Travel Advisory: Level 3—Reconsider Travel.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/nigeria-travel-advisory.html

Citation for The Awake Voice and Facebook Posts:
Akaeze, N. (2026, May 30). The Promise to Protect: Three Years Later, Nigerians Are Still Waiting for Safety. The Awake Voice.

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