By Agatha Emeadi
Rear Admiral Leye Jaiyeola (rtd) is the chairman of Owiwi Cubes Nigeria Ltd. In his heyday in the Navy, Jaiyeola was described by many as a dedicated, high performing security expert. He has over 35 years of outstanding results in the Navy and meritorious service in the promotion of peace and security on the African Continent.
In this interview with Sunday Sun, the retired chief explained the fears of the ECOWAS planned attack on Niger Republic.
What is your take on ECOWAS position to use military option on Niger Republic follow the coup that ousted President Bazoum?
People hype a lot of things. Nobody has said that Nigeria is going to Niger for war. In this part of the world, we like working on conjecture and ‘I hear say’ stuff. ECOWAS as a body came up with some resolutions and President Tinubu is just fortunate to be the chairman of ECOWAS for now, and what he presented to the Legislature is not permission to go to war; but the decisions of the ECOWAS for Nigeria as a member to buy into it. And I tell you clearly that the Armed Forces, the Chief of Defense Staff finished their meetings on the subject recently; they did not resolve they were going to war. What they told me was that when you activate a Standby Force, it is different from when you deploy a Standby Force. They are not deploying, instead activating it, and by doing so, it does not mean they are going to war. Like the president said, the diplomatic means is still open, the table is open for discussion and thank God that both religious and traditional leaders are coming in, so it is open. People just agitate in their mind that we are going to war, we are not going to war. The Niger people are our brothers. Sixty per cent of the Northern belt are our brothers and why would one go to war with his brothers?
How do you see the role of private security situation in Nigeria presently?
Security is everyone’s responsibility because it is becoming a plague in the society. Nigeria as a country needs the standard regularized private security not only for the critical, but for change to happen in a private security space in Nigeria, it will take unity and people in the industry coming together. The population of the country is over 200 million; and the Armed Forces if put together are not up to one over hundred; so, the private security industry will only come up to four by playing some of these skills; therefore, we need to embrace technology and advancement, we need to establish a robust regulatory framework, we need to put every industry to check and that is what we need to address our data bank. Do we have the proper data as to private security industries in Nigeria? Do we have to start from who, until the ideal data and people can be held liable, then we can talk about the role of NSC in the place of private security?
What should be the place of legislation in the role of private security?
These are the area we need to begin to look at. Together, I look forward to envisioning a private security that is equipped with necessary tools knowledge, not only to protect our citizens and secure our nation, it is also to make the job smooth and easier for us. Now, it is the retirees’ day, whenever everyone retires either from either the police or army and the next thing is to establish a private security and nobody bothers to know the background, what is his background in terms of private security? Does the fellow have the appropriate knowledge of running security organization, and this is where the industry comes in today by setting up the standards which says whosoever you are, you must be able to follow the rules and get things done; so that our roles will be complementary, at the end of the day, it will make our jobs very easy, I am here to agitate our minds on some areas and hoping that together we can build what I call a secure prosperous nation in Nigeria. I say all these because I am a Nigerian and can never Japa. It is important to forge ahead and do something that will benefit all. Again, it means that the security situation in Nigeria is very complex, very dynamic, hydra-headed; therefore, the approach must not just be a single line of approach. Before now, the private security industry in the country has not really been recognized, apart from that, it has not really been able to carve a niche for itself, and so the address is to challenge the industry to see how they could complement the conventional security processes.
As a retired Chief of Naval Staff, what then do you think are the roadmaps to an effective private security?
Part of it is for us to look at the regulatory framework. It is important we revisit the regulatory framework of the system, take advantage of technological development and make sure that we get our people certified. Nigeria is a big nation, over 200 million population. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry comes up with security outfit; so, part of the roadmap is for us to know who we are, come up with data, get our members certified, build a trust within the community and let people know that the private security industry can actually complement a conventional work.
What do you think about the government giving an enabling environment?
When people talk about giving an enabling environment, part of it is the regulatory issues. We have a national security strategy that is clearly written out, but one realizes that we have not been able to identify the private security industry as a stakeholder in the business of security in the country; so until we begin to bring them on board, it is not competition, neither is it rivalry, rather complementing one another; and for me, that solves it. The laws and policies are there, when we sit down and begin to look at these policies in a realistic way, not just paper work, we will be developing homegrown strategy that can use everybody, including the religious bodies, traditional leaders and I call it an all-stakeholders’ approach; not just the kinetic, non-kinetic moves.
What do you think about the newly appointed Service Chiefs?
As far as I am concerned, it is a policy decision. Mr. President has appointed very competent senior officers whom I know very well because most of them were like godsons to me. I can tell you that they are eminently qualified to do the job.
What attracted you to the Naval Force?
I joined the Navy because that was what God meant it to be. I grew up among military personnel in the barracks in Apapa and my passion became to be like the people I saw as a young boy.