 The National Assembly has been urged to focus on insecurity as against the hijab bill. The advice was given by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, which that Nigeria already has laws protecting citizens from religious discrimination. The president of CAN also stated that unemployment is fueling insecurity because the terrorists and the bandits are able to recruit with idle hands. Let's start with the issue of the hijab. It did cause a crisis of sorts in Kuala State. I think just last month here there was a crisis and the video was everywhere with students having to be told not to wear hijabs in certain schools because they think it's obstructing the uniformity of the outfits and of course the states saying that look these schools are no longer missionary schools they have been given back to government and government give back so it's supposed to allow people to dress in a certain way. But going as far as getting a bill to make this thing so that when people are in public places, women, Muslim women are in public places, they must wear hijabs. Is that really a priority that we should be bothering ourselves with right now? Evidently it's not a priority. It's a pointer to how we, let me say we reminded the people who are in the circles of leadership are that this is what they are considering the priority when ought not to be. It is also sad pointer to the state of affairs that our nation is in. Now, like I said we have been plagued by mostly all sorts that has built up to cause some form of insecurity as we speak. I'd like to just give you a little insight. I'm sure that you must have had. This morning the NSCDC found seven buddies in Calabar as yesterday there were attacks in Borneo, there were killings here and there. I mean we're still talking about insecurity. In Lagos, a shop very close to where I was yesterday was being robbed and my colleagues were in that shop. Broad daylight with sophisticated weapons, men on motorcycles, rather. This is how serious the situation of things is in Nigeria. But this bill I'd like to let you know has passed its second reading and the Christian Association of Nigeria is saying look this is not as pressing as our insecurity and they're saying we should be prioritizing our security right now because that is the major issue. So let's talk security Peter. Why do you think that it's become so bad in recent days? Well one of the reasons it has gotten this bad is that the general public has a greater level of distrust for government. So many people are more likely to take laws into their own hands as a manner of speaking. Also poverty has become, I mean is the news we all know it even if news didn't say it, poverty now works on two legs in the streets of Nigeria and people are doing everything that they can to survive. Even if it means they will take two illegal methods to prove food on the table. So with this invitation to Anaki, that is me handed out a question of poverty, we will see many, many more people take to crime in the days and weeks ahead. Also we know that we are underpoliced. There seems to be a lack of efforts. Let me say that we're from those who are who are to lead the charge against this insecurity and because of that it's almost free for all. In many of my four other, I have discussions with my colleagues across the world, they keep their friends in Nigeria as a failed state and even though I want to differ because of my pride, when I see the pointers to these things I tend to agree. But when you say that even those who are supposed to lead the charge seem to not be as encouraged or hyped as they should be, is it really their fault? Can you blame them? Like you have said, we're underpoliced and of course our security forces are overly stretched and we know what they're having to deal with in the northeast and of course now we have them in other parts of the north. We have banditry and we have the kidnappings. Can we really blame them for not being as hyped up or as encouraged as they should be? Doesn't mean that they're not doing their jobs but then you have said that they're overstretched, so should that bulk be passed to them? Well, I want to say yes. I'll use the recent incident in our national consciousness as a point of reference. Last year, when the agitation of citizens against police brutality and excesses of security agencies got to a head with the end sentence that we saw, we saw government or certain leaders from government display almost apathy and then disregard for people's sentiments. We've seen the fallout of it after that. In fact, it was just a few weeks ago, I remember I was on your station and we discussed how people were going to come out to protest the proposed reopening of the toll gate and how there was, the way the matter was tense, was charged up, didn't need to be because some of those who were speaking on behalf of government were hitting on the policy. So when you have people who are supposed to be coming to the situation or trying to inspire confidence in the system, doing the opposite, what we see is what's going to happen, it was bound to happen. Leaders have dropped the buck. Let's call it what it is. So let's continue to talk about this issue of the hijab crisis because it has also become a crisis which could become a religious war of sorts. And we know that Nigeria is a secular state even though we also know that the two major religions which is Christianity and Islam. And if the Muslims are saying we want our women to be covered when they are in public spaces, why can't we all, you know, go with it? I'm just asking as for security reasons and for safety because little things like this could spark into a thing that we might not be able to handle in the future. So shouldn't state governments be the ones handling this instead of the National Assembly passing a law or putting a bill, you know, into law to make that, make it a general law? Well, even if you ask state governments to handle this, and I do believe that I want to say, I'm sorry, Peter, when I say states, I'm talking about states that are predominantly Muslim where, you know, they have certain Sharia laws in place. Yes. I agree. And this is where I was going to. Even if you say those states should handle it, not everybody in those states, not even all Muslims hold the view that their women should be forced to wear hijab in public. So there's going to be dissenting opinions even from people of the same faith. So by which means that we aggregate the consensus and say, okay, this is what the majority says, and then we can then let them have their way. And then if we're going to have their way, does this violate the tenets of what we call a constitution in this country? Again, it also shows the flaws in the constitution. And I'm surprised that many of those who are frontline politicians or position politicians are not using this opportunity to address the failures of national constitution. Those who are calling for structuring prior to the last elections, they've all gone quiet. And I don't, I mean, it just beg, it just begs us to believe that a political class is also asleep. Okay. I want to keep pressing on the issue of dealing with little issues and little sparks before it becomes a fire. Can also spoke about creating jobs, having employment as a watchword and the National Assembly prioritizing those things that had cost us to have insecurity in the first place instead of paying attention to this bill. So I'm going to ask for someone who works in security and all of the things that you've seen and all the things that have been reported, can unemployment or rather creating employment be maybe some form of a remedy to the situation of things? Or maybe should this issue like an issue such as this be addressed now that it's budding instead of it blowing into out of a portion and then of course we'll now have our plate totally full with insecurity from outsiders that have cost insecurity from within. Well, there are several indices that give rise to increase in crime rates. One of those things is lack of employment for those who are to be actively employed. And evidently that is one of the issues Nigeria is suffering from now, that a larger portion of its youth is unemployed or not gainfully employed. We keep seeing, I mean look at what happened during the official lockdowns when coronavirus began last year. We saw in certain cities, in Lagos, in Oregon State, we saw young people who hid there too were supposedly low abiding. We saw them begin to march in the streets and go from house to house to rob, to commit crime. Those things were brought about because there was little work going on, there was little employment, and there was little honor means of getting food to eat. So you saw people literally become base animals. We saw people go back to the atavistic nature and those things will happen in a situation like we have now where the economy is failing, the naira and the dollar, I mean that's another story for another day. But like you're pointing out, I want to agree with you, the fact that there's a lack of employment is going to increase incentives for people to take to crime. And until government actually does something serious about this, we're likely to see more people take to crime in the days ahead. Well I want to say thank you to you, Peter Median is a security expert, thank you for being part of the conversation. Thank you. All right, well we'll take a short break now, I'll be giving you my take when we come back from the break. Here's my take. The judiciary they say in Nigeria is the hope of the common man. That common man may never have hope if the judiciary isn't working and functioning at its best. We want justice, but even the justices and the bench cannot get financial autonomy. Now this is detailed for local governments and states legislatures. Where is the justice in that? If governments especially in states must work and the governors must step away from all of this and let these other arms function independently at their capacity because we call us a democracy. We can't keep hoping for divine intervention when all we know, we all know what to do, but we're not doing it. Now on the issue of the hijab, I'd like to say that are we prioritizing the right things? Are we channeling our resources and our time to the things that are deserving? Let's major on the major things because we know that there are bigger things that need our attention and not minor. Okay, so because the days of minors will come, but that day is not today and Nigeria's got bigger issues. So let's make hay while the sun shines. Now dear leaders, let's get our priorities right. I am Marianne Corn. Thank you for watching. Have a good evening.