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Dr. Edinen Usoroh is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Executive Guards Limited, a company founded more than 29 years ago with headquarters in Plateau State and branches all around Nigeria. He has spent the last 39 years in Private Security Management and has become one of the most sought after security consultants in Nigeria. He is a member of the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) International, a Fellow of the Security Institute, United Kingdom and Association of Security Consultants, United Kingdom.
Usoroh, a founding member of the Association of Licensed Private Security Practitioners of Nigeria (ALPSPN), in this interview with JUDE OWUAMANAM, says Nigeria military retires its personnel too early with a staggering high turnover of retired generals.
For more than 20 years, Nigeria has been grappling with the problem of insecurity and one of the questions on the lips of every Nigerian is whether this will this ever end. From your perspective, as a security expert, why has this insecurity become too intractable?
I would say that, number one, is that there is lack of the willpower by government to deal decisively with the problem. You know, we’re talking about terrorism that were then domiciled around the North-East region of the country. And when some fragments of them now started migrating to Niger some years ago, some of us did warn, and now the whole north is being engulfed, now spreading south. And so, number one, is a lack of willpower. And number two, is that in the north, where these events are ongoing, the people have refused to at least come in to see how they can stop the killings, starting from the political and religious leaders in the north. Many of us are located here in the north, so you know that. You will see that when these killings take place, you don’t hear any condemnation of the acts, except some of them that make excuses for these miscreants. I remember vividly during the time of former President Jonathan, when efforts were made to nip the activities of Boko Haram in the bud and then Chief of Army Azubuike Ihejirika, was accused of genocide by some elements in the North, especially some politicians and religious leaders in the north. They even did accuse the government of using the the issue of Boko Haram to try to destroy the north, kill the north, and reduce the population of the north . So that is what has led us to where we are.
You talk about the inability of northern leaders to say anything or condemn what is happening. Do you then suspect some kind of foul play or collaboration with these bandits by some of these leaders?
I will not be able to, I don’t like generalising on security issues as a security man. So I’ll speak based on facts. The truth of the matter is, if they were so interested, like I said during Jonathan’s time, the way they were attacking Jonathan, going to some places of worship to accuse him of a lot of things. In fact, they were even accusing him at that time that he was the person who started Boko Haram. A very ridiculous allegation. So for me, just like I said, if the leaders had shown interest, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
We’re witnessing a spike in insecurity despite the renewed efforts to fight the menace. Do you think the security apparatus will be able to fight the insurgency that is averaging the country now?
The surge may be a coincidence but the truth of the matter is that the change for me, I’m worried, because what we keep doing now is to keep reducing the number of our fighting force. If you ask me, if those officers have been left, it would have been the same. It is not the change; it is what is in the change. And what is in the change that can be a game changer is the willpower of government. If the government gives the military the instructions, without any interference or without any influence, they will deal with this situation in a very short time.
If the insurgency has persisted for 15 year, that means the government is not doing the right thing. It did happen like when Buhari came. You know when Buhari came, there was something like bandits, you know, it was during Buhari’s time and then we heard some of the statements by the man from Kwara, when he made those grievous statements. And so, like I said, the willpower by government is to become intolerable to anyone, any organisation, any entity, no matter how highly placed, whether religious or traditional. Some of Buhari’s policies exacerbated the matter. How can you say somebody is a terrorist today and then you say they have surrendered, and then the next thing you say they have repented, and the next thing you say they should be recruited into the army or the police, it’s crazy. Buhari left us messed up, and if there’s any mistake Nigeria has made in the last 15 years, it was Buhari’s coming. His coming escalated everything and Nigeria will never be the same again. We pray that our military will be able to bring down this situation but are you sure this matter can be eliminated the way it is because some of these bandits in the bushes come out in the open to kidnap, celebrate marriages in their homes, they send the videos and nobody is tracing them; nobody is tracking them. During Buhari’s time, you’ll hear that they arrested terrorists and the next thing you’ll hear is that they’ve escaped. It’s a very serious matter that requires serious attention. In fact, if I were to be an adviser to the Mr. President, I don’t think 2027 is what he needs. If he can stop and restore Nigeria to what Nigeria used to be, his name will be forever in the history of Nigeria. He doesn’t need 2027.
So, it is not whether you are doing something. It is whether you are doing the right thing. This is a country where we are having depletion of men and officers – military and the police. And yet you are retiring people when they served 35, which kind of 35 years? The president can issue an executive order stopping retirement for at least 10 years. After all, professors used to retire at 60, but now the retirement age is above 60 and it’s helping the university system because if not, you will not have enough professors in the university. And so what stops government from extending the age of retirement in the military because we are in a war situation. You do not retire people when you are fighting a war. And then some of our generals as well are retiring at 50, 52 or 55 years. And then you want to say the military should recruit 20,000 people. For what? I don’t get it. To come and enter the forests and fight Boko Haram? It means you recruit some of these young boys’ schoolboys, train them at the depot and then send them to the bushes. Does it make sense? If some of these young boys hear the sound of the gun, they will run away. Why can’t the government even do a recall of all those who have retired in the last 10, 15, 20 years who are physically and mentally fit? Bring them back. Many of them fought the civil war; many of them fought UN wars. They have the experience. What will 30,000 policemen do if they come? Excuse me; to come go fight a war? We are not talking about mobile police force. And those who are advising the Mr. President either don’t know or they don’t want to ask questions. If I were to be advising him, I would stop all forms of retirements, except on health grounds. Nobody will retire in the next 10 years. Ten men you recruit cannot stand for a soldier who has been in the system for 20 years and who must have gone through all kinds of training, faced all kinds of obstacles as a soldier. He must have gone on so many foreign missions or whatever. One soldier with that experience is more than 10 or 20 you recruits and you can’t use them to prosecute what we have in our hands. So these are proactive decisions. How many generals retired when these other people left? Is that done in any normal times? No. You are fighting a war. It’s like a woman who is in a labour room. And then you say all the doctors and the nurses there should go on break. It’s ridiculous. Okay, fine. They need to go on break but not when a woman is in a labour room because the life of the woman and the baby in her stomach are at risk. Do the right thing and these are things the president can do.
The government appeared to have, maybe, recognised their mistake with the recent appointment of Christopher Musa as the minister of defence, who was prematurely retired as chief of defence staff. How do you see this development and how do you compare him with appointing a civilian as a minister of defence?
No. I believe you’re the one asking me questions. If I have an opportunity I’ll ask you whether CG Musa is an APC member because Mr. President apart from Nyesom Wike that he put in there distracting the president, I mean, what I’m saying, apart from Wike, I don’t know of any other non-APC member that has been given a such sensitive position. But now, let’s go to the real issue. General Musa is an accomplished general. Ordinarily, I think, for him, I don’t know, but if you ask him, he may tell you he would like his former role as a general in uniform, and being in the battlefield that being a minister. In America you would call them, the secretary of war.
