LCCI Raises Alarm Over The Rate Of Insecurity
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) has frowned at the worsening insecurity in the country exacerbated by the attack on a Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) train enroute Abuja-Kaduna with an estimated 398 passengers.
In a statement, LCCI President, Dr. Michael Olawale-Cole, said it is rather frightening to the well-being of Nigerians. He said the Chamber was worried as a result of its impact on businesses and the economy.
He said: “The business community is concerned because of the apparent threat to our forthcoming general elections in 2023 and, by extension, a threat to our democracy. In the absence of peace and security, it would be challenging to hold credible, free, and fair elections that would reflect the choices of the electorates about whom their leaders should be.”
He regretted that the 2021 Global Peace Index published by the Institute for Peace and Economics ranked Nigeria 146th out of 163 countries, only better than countries like Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Russia, which are known to have been conflict areas for a long time.
Olawale-Cole lamented that the security challenges were continuing to spiral into anarchy. He said: “The Global Conflict Tracker hosted by the United States Council on Foreign Relations recorded that attacks by bandits across the North-West have claimed at least 5,000 lives since 2018.
