A former chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and Presidential aspirant on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Muhammad Hayatu-Deen, has said Nigeria’s worsening insecurity is directly linked to the country’s economic challenges, warning that poverty and violence continue to feed each other.
Hayatu-Deen, in a post shared on X on Tuesday, argued that the nation’s security crisis cannot be separated from its struggling economy, noting that insecurity has continued to disrupt livelihoods across the country.
“When farmers cannot reach their fields, food prices rise. When traders cannot move goods, the cost of living rises. When young men cannot find work, criminal networks find recruits,” he stated.
According to him, insecurity fuels poverty while poverty, in turn, fuels insecurity, creating a dangerous cycle that can only be broken by restoring the authority of the state.
The former banker said he had spent years studying the relationship between economic decline and insecurity, adding that the conclusions formed the basis of his proposed security reforms.
He subsequently unveiled a list of immediate measures he said he would implement from “Day One” to tackle terrorism, kidnapping, and organised crime in Nigeria.
Among the measures is the formal designation of groups such as Yan Bindiga and ISWAP-affiliated kidnapping syndicates as terrorist organisations under the Terrorism Prevention Act.
He also proposed accelerated terrorism trials for bandits, kidnappers, and their collaborators, insisting that organised violence should no longer be treated as ordinary crime.
He pledged to target financial networks sustaining terrorism by directing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to freeze and seize assets linked to ransom payments, arms trafficking, and money laundering.
He added that a joint financial intelligence and telecom surveillance task force would be established to track criminal communications and ransom flows through real-time intelligence sharing.
Hayatu-Deen also vowed to end federal involvement in ransom payments and negotiated amnesties for armed groups.
“The Federal Government will not legitimise criminal violence by rewarding it with public funds or political concessions,” he said.
On regional security, he called for the revival of the Multi-National Joint Task Force involving Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon, and Benin, stressing that terrorist networks operate across borders and require coordinated responses.
He further advocated reforms in intelligence sharing among the military, police, DSS, immigration, customs, and financial intelligence agencies, saying Nigeria needs “better intelligence, better shared, faster acted upon.”
Hayatu-Deen proposed strengthening policing nationwide through improved training, technology, and rapid response systems, while introducing targeted economic recovery programmes for youths vulnerable to recruitment by criminal groups.
“Enforcement alone will not hold. Lasting security requires both the rod and the opportunity,” he added.
