A former Director-General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Alhaji Idi Farouk, has advised President Bola Tinubu to engage private military contractors (PMCs) to combat the rising wave of terrorism and banditry in Nigeria.
Farouk gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, yesterday.
Farouk’s advice was against the backdrop of the recent violence in Yelewata, Guma Local Government, Benue State , where scores of residents were killed by gunmen while several others were displaced.
The former director-general noted that the regular military forces appeared to have been over-stretched and under-resourced to handle the security challenges.
He said that beefing up the security agencies with well-trained PMC could tilt the balance in favour of the Nigerian state.
While decrying the rampancy of killings in Benue and other states in the country, Farouk said that it was the constitutional duty of the government to safeguard the lives and property of its citizens.
“There are killings in Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau and even in the South-West states and other parts of the country.
“Mr President should do something about it because it is the responsibility of the government to protect lives and property. If more security personnel are required, government should recruit them,” he said.
Farouk, who described himself as an advocate of state police, called on government to step up action in the establishment of state police.
He said that if state police were approved, the country would be more secure and the rate of insecurity reduced.
“If we want more boots on the ground, let’s hire more personnel. Secondly, we have the best police; the best soldiers; the best military in Africa and yet insecurity is high.
“Government should bring in personnel to help tackle these people who are creating problems for us, if that is the only option left,” he said.
According to him, the security challenges must be addressed so that the country can attract the much-talked about foreign investments and tackle unemployment and other issues.
“Crises do occur everywhere, but not with the rampancy that it is happening in Nigeria today.
“You can imagine these people (bandits) making videos and beating their chests, counting their money after killing and kidnapping innocent Nigerians.
“I think with the engagement of the services of PMCs who have the best of modern military equipment and devices that could track the terrorists anywhere, we can deal with the situation.
“The reality of Nigeria’s security problem today is that our military and para-military agencies cannot do it alone, because they don’t have enough equipment and personnel,” he said.
Farouk noted with concern that some of the top military officers today had become more of politicians than professional military officers
This, he said, was why some Nigerians were calling on the government to engage retired generals and other experienced retired senior security officers to help return the security situation to normalcy.