A look of genuine shock washed over the faces of several Nigerians who recently joined the peaceful protests championed by the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), and other concerned citizens. In a video currently circulating online, a man exclaimed in sheer disbelief, staring at a massive military armoured tank as though it were an alien spacecraft. In his bewilderment, he voiced a frustration that mirrors the collective exhaustion of the nation: why is an armoured tank parked on a tarred road to monitor a peaceful protest, when it should be tearing through the thick, hostile forests where innocent Nigerians are held captive?

The Cold Reality of the Forest

This morning, as heavy rain battered my roof here in Ibadan, I broke down and wept. I wept because a harrowing thought pierced through the comfort of my home. Every single drop of water that has pounded my roof over the past two weeks has simultaneously dropped on the fragile, exposed bodies of abducted two-year-olds, four-year-olds, and nine-year-olds trapped in the wild.

Lying on my cosy bed, wrapped in a warm blanket within an enclosed room, the contrast was unbearable. I could not help but ask myself: What about the kidnapped kids and teachers from Oriire local government currently shivering in the deep forest? Who will give them a blanket? Who will ensure they can even close their eyes to sleep? 

As an environmentalist, I know too well that the rainy season in Nigeria is notoriously harsh, bringing with it not just the biting cold, but swarms of dangerous insects. For these abducted citizens, the elements are not just inconveniences; they are a daily, felt reality of torture and deteriorating health conditions.

Misplaced Priorities: Intimidating Citizens Over Fighting Insurgency

This brings me back to the jarring imagery of the recent protests. Why are heavily armoured tanks mostly deployed to peaceful protest zones and not to the “hot zones” where terrorists have established entire fiefdoms?

Insurgency, banditry, and kidnapping have rained terror on this country for over a decade. Are these criminal networks truly too powerful for our sprawling security apparatus, or is there a fundamental lack of will to engage them? Deploying pristine, multi-million-naira armoured vehicles on the streets of a peaceful protest is not just a misplaced priority; it is a glaring indictment of our security strategy.

We saw this same terrifying playbook during the EndSARS protests, a movement that tragically cost the lives of innocent Nigerians. Then, as now, armoured tanks were rolled out. It appears to be a deliberate strategy to intimidate and scare away citizens. But we must constantly remind our leaders: the right to protest is a fundamental human right enshrined in our constitution. It is a cry for better governance, not an attempt to unnecessarily antagonise the state. Treating dissenting citizens as enemies of the state while treating actual terrorists with kid gloves is a paradox that is destroying the fabric of the nation.

The Multi-Trillion Naira Paradox

Do we have loads of these tanks? If so, why has the National Security Adviser not directed their immediate and relentless deployment to the forests of the North-West, North-Central, and the South-West?

When we look at the empirical data regarding Nigeria’s defence spending, the reality becomes even more sickening. We are not failing because of a lack of funds; we are failing despite throwing oceans of cash at the problem.

• For the 2026 fiscal year, President Bola Tinubu proposed a staggering ₦5.41 trillion for defence and security. This astronomical figure follows a continuous trend of massive defence budgets, yet the return on investment is virtually non-existent.

• Between July 2024 and June 2025 alone, 4,722 abductions were recorded nationwide. 

• During that same twelve-month period, terrified families and victims were forced to pay about ₦2.57 billion in ransom to kidnappers. 
• Over the past decade, more than 1,500 students have been kidnapped in mass school attacks across the country. 

Despite these trillions of naira allocated to defence and security, Nigeria was ranked 148th out of 163 countries in the Global Peace Index 2025, placing it among the least peaceful nations on earth. 

The math simply does not add up. If the military budget is consistently soaring into the trillions, why are our troops allegedly under-equipped in the forests? Why are lawmakers in the Senate now having to demand a comprehensive audit of defence spending due to the worsening insecurity? 

A Call for Accountability and True Security

The primary responsibility of any government is the protection of lives and property. When a government utilises its most intimidating hardware to police the voices of tired teachers, struggling labourers, and frustrated students, while leaving defenceless toddlers to the mercy of heavily armed bandits, it has lost its moral compass.

Who gives these orders? It is high time the National Security Adviser and the service chiefs re-evaluate their operational doctrines. True security is not achieved by pointing the barrel of a tank at a citizen holding a placard. True security is achieved when a two-year-old child in Nigeria can sleep safely under a roof, free from the terror of midnight abductions, and when our forests are reclaimed from the grip of transnational criminal syndicates.

And at PSJ UK, we will continue to spotlight these stark realities. We demand that the Nigerian government audits its security expenditures, re-strategises its military deployments, and channels its might toward the real enemies of the state. 

Our children belong in classrooms and warm beds, not in the cold, rain-soaked depths of a kidnapper's den.