Nigeria Enter One Chance? Insecurity and Sachet Economy in 2025

While the world is moving forward with Technological Advancements, Green Energy, and Space Exploration, Nigeria seems to be trapped in a cycle of “one step forward, two steps backward.” In the last few months of 2025, we have seen world leaders like the US President and the Israeli Prime Minister finally calling out the madness happening in our backyard. For years, we were told it was just “clashes” or “local disputes.” But the truth is out now. The world is watching, yet the people on the ground are still waiting for the change they were promised.

If you look at how Israel handles its security, they don’t make excuses. When Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about Nigeria recently, he was pointing out a fundamental truth: You cannot negotiate with people who want to wipe you out. In Iraq and Syria, we saw what happened when the state allowed militant groups to take over territory. The Christian population vanished. In Bethlehem, it went from 80% to 20%.

Now, look at Nigeria. In the North Central and the North West, entire villages have been displaced. Some people call it “Farmer-Herder clashes.” Can you imagine that? Someone comes to your house at 2:00 AM with an AK-47, kills your family, and takes your land, and they call it a “clash.” A clash is when two people have a misunderstanding in the market. This is an invasion.

The reality is that the Nigerian state has been “intentionally incompetent.” Remember when the former Minister of Defense said terrorists were in a forest where bombs couldn’t reach? In 2025, with satellite technology and drones that can see a needle in a haystack, we are still hearing that terrorists are “hidden.” It doesn’t make sense. If the US can track a target across the globe, why can’t Nigeria track people who are making videos on TikTok from the Sambisa forest? It is because some people are complicit. They see these terrorists as their “brothers” or “useful tools” for political gain.

While we are dealing with security, the economy is dealing with us. We are told the GDP is growing. They say the Naira is “stabilizing” at ₦1,400 to the dollar. But go to the street. Go to Oshodi or Ariaria market. A mother in Ijebu cannot buy a full crate of eggs for her children. She has to buy one or two. That is what we call the “Sachet Economy.”

Some leaders are living in a different Nigeria. They are buying new jets and SUVs while telling the masses to “exercise patience.” They say the reforms of 2023 and 2024 were necessary, but isnt medicine supposed to cure the patient, not kill him? If the “reforms” have led to 40% food inflation, then the reform has failed.

Compare this to the UAE or Saudi Arabia. These are Islamic nations, yet they have opened their doors to the world. They have built infrastructure that works. They don’t allow “religious leaders” to stay on social media and preach hate or tell people not to celebrate Christmas with their neighbors.

They know that a bad economy does not care if you are a Muslim or a Christian. If the road is bad, it will spoil your car, be you a Christian or a Muslim. But in Nigeria, you hear religious leaders telling their co-worshippers not to eat Christmas rice.

The major problem Nigeria has is that the law appears to be only for the poor. If you criticize the government on Facebook, they can find you in two hours. But if you kidnap 300 students and take them into the bush, they will say we are “monitoring the situation.”

For how long shall we monitor? In any serious country, if you pick up a gun against the state, you are a national security threat. There is no negotiation. You don’t “de-radicalize” someone who is still holding a blood-stained knife. You enforce the law or dont you know the law? 

With the US government recent military intervention at ISIS locations in Nigeria; the Nigerian government say they are in collaboration, after it fails to protect its citizens, a massive slap on our “sovereignty.”

Is a country sovereign if it cannot protect its own people in their sleep? Sovereignty belongs to the people, not to the borders. If any government cannot provide security, they have lost the right to shout about sovereignty.

Please, No More Excuses.

We need a “New Deal.” We need leaders who protect lives. Be you in a village in Plateau or in a high-rise in Lagos, the state should protect you. We must stop the “climate change” excuses. When a man burns a church or a mosque, it is not because the sun was too hot. It is because he is a criminal.

We must also stop the hate speech. Religious leaders like the ones telling people to go to hell for celebrating Christmas are the ones planting the seeds of the terrorism we see today. The government must regulate these ideologies. If Saudi Arabia can do it, why can’t we?

We need peace in the land. We need to work and see the fruit of the works of our hands. We need to sleep with both eyes closed.

The Bible says in Proverbs 29:2 (KJV)  that “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”

Nigeria has been groaning for a long time. But as children of God, our help neither come from the north, south, east and west, nor come from a government or economy. It comes from the Lord. Light will always overcome darkness, no matter how long the night may last.

While we demand accountability and change in policy from our leaders, we also commit our nation into the hands of the Almighty.

PRAYER

Lord, bring healing to our wounded nation.

Provide for families persecuted and displaced.

Expose any leader who is being complicit.

Grant us wisdom to manage our resources.

Break the power of terrorist groups and sponsors.

Open doors for our youth to thrive.

Let your light shine in our nation today.

In Jesus name, Amen.