Former Minister Solomon Dalung Slams Federal Government Over Lack of Political Will to End Terrorism

A former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Comrade Solomon Dalung, has strongly criticized the Federal Government, asserting that the political class completely lacks the genuine will required to eradicate terrorism and banditry across Nigeria.

Speaking during a national media engagement, Dalung lamented that the country’s current security architecture has been systematically converted into a multi-trillion-naira commercial enterprise. He argued that the persistent failure to neutralize insurgent networks is not a reflection of the armed forces' tactical limitations, but rather a deliberate choice by powerful figures who actively benefit from the ballooning defense budgets and ongoing conflict economies.

The outspoken former minister, who served during the first term of the Buhari administration, warned that the nation is rapidly racing toward an irreversible socio-economic crisis if the government continues to rely on stage-managed peace negotiations and diversionary legislative debates rather than addressing the core roots of instability.

A central pillar of Dalung's critique focused on the government's continued refusal to unmask and prosecute the powerful syndicates funding extremist groups.

The primary systemic failures highlighted in his assessment include:

• Concealing the Sponsors: Despite repeated public declarations and mounting intelligence files identifying the elite financiers behind terrorism, the Federal Government has consistently failed to publish names or initiate high-profile prosecutions.
• Firepower Disparity: Despite massive statutory allocations, including the trillions earmarked in recent defense budgets, frontline soldiers routinely face superior weaponry held by bandits due to internal supply chain leakages and procurement corruption.
• Opposition to Local Solutions: Rather than implementing decentralised security structures like state policing to safeguard vulnerable rural communities, certain federal lawmakers and administrators actively campaign against the reform to maintain centralized control.

Dalung further observed that three years into the current administration, ordinary citizens have seen zero positive impact from highly publicized security operations and economic policies. Instead, mass abductions and highway incursions continue to spread across the country completely unchecked.

He concluded that the ongoing silence regarding terror sponsors serves as a calculated political strategy designed to protect high-ranking figures and manipulate future electoral outcomes. Until the presidency musters the courage to dismantle the highly lucrative "insecurity economy" and enforce absolute transparency within the armed services, local populations will remain at the mercy of armed criminal cartels.