Former naval chief, Vice Admiral Samuel Olajide Afolyan, has linked Nigeria’s worsening insecurity to decades of leadership failure, saying many Almajiri children he encountered in the 1980s have now become armed bandits.
Afolyan made the remarks during the OSI Day 2025, where he spoke on the long-term consequences of neglecting education, social welfare and moral guidance.
He urged Nigerian politicians to reflect deeply on their responsibilities to society, particularly towards vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly and poor women.
“I’ll encourage our politicians to go to the drawing board again and look at what contribution are we making to make life easy for our elders, the old women, our children,” he said.
According to the retired naval officer, the country is now paying the price for failing to properly educate and guide young people over the years.
“Nigeria is pointing to one thing very clearly our young ones that we failed to educate, they’ll not let you sleep later,” Afolyan warned.
He lamented that many children who grew up without care or access to education are today being described as criminals.
“Children today, especially the younger ones, are now being called b@ndits,” he stated.
Reflecting on his experiences as a young man in the early 1980s, Afolyan said the transformation from neglected children to armed men was avoidable.
“I remember when I was in school and college in the early 1980s — 1981, 1982. The boys and girls we grew up with, the children we saw in our communities, are now the men of today carrying we+pons.”
He concluded by blaming the situation on sustained leadership failure.
“This is a failure of leadership. Our leaders failed in how these children were raised and guided.”
His comments added to growing calls at OSI Day 2025 for long-term solutions to insecurity through education reform, youth empowerment and sustained social investment rather than reactive security measures alone.
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