The scourge of insecurity

In about five weeks or so after I wrote the article titled “Democratisation of Insecurity,” I have to return to the matter because rather than abate, insecurity, especially in the northern parts, has spiraled. Two incidents that claimed lives in dozens happened in Borno and Taraba in twenty four hour intervals few days ago. Scores of people lost their lives just as several others were wounded in attacks that have become so regular that news bulletins in Nigeria now seem incomplete without such stories. It rankles that even with the reports, there are complaints from the battlefield, my term for describing the hotbeds of insecurity, that there are still several unreported incidents. Incidents that are isolated and do not claim many people. In other words what we see in the media hardly reflect the magnitude of the reality. More people are dying than we know. People are shouting their voices hoarse on the matter. Last week, in a newspaper report, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, called for stiffer laws against kidnapping, banditry and other heinous crimes.  He was addressing a delegation from the Nasarawa chapter of Association of Nigeria Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON). He said his ‘Operation Puff Adder’, set up to fight criminality nationwide, has rescued 63 kidnap victims since April 5, 2019 when it came into being. The I.G. maybe patting himself on the back. He  probably does not know that kidnapping attracts death penalty in Edo and Delta, and that proceeds of kidnapping are legally confiscated in Anambra. If any house was identified as a kidnap camp, it would be brought down, just as the house of a confirmed kidnapper would. The IGP is living in the past, except he wants it to apply across the nation. Such general application would take root from the empirical evidence that there has been a reduction of the menace in states where the laws are in force. He said 2, 175 suspects have been arrested within the  same period, implying that the police is on its toes on the matter. But the fact starring rudely on the nation’s face is the seeming a collapse of the county’s security network.

The IG’s team may be mitigating the problem, but the extent of that is like the tiny drop of water in the ocean. There are still wide gaps in the nation’s security apparatus. President Buhari’s  response has often been to meet with the security chiefs, and perhaps go through security routine that obviously has not yielded desired results. The President says he is being careful about changing security chiefs in the midst of insecurity. He may have a point given his military background but he has not considered the psychological effect of throwing new men, or indeed women, at the job. The saying is stale that you do not do the same thing all over again and expect different results. There are merits of stability in appointments, as the President has done with his staff, and most of them have acquitted themselves creditably. But there are also demerits in the seeming laxity of appointees who feel so secure in their positions that even lack of innovations would not threaten their stay in office. New vigour is certainly required in the security apparati of this nation. The stark reality is that insecurity is walking tall on the streets of Nigeria with little let and hindrance.

In recent times, it has become obvious that local vigilante groups have tried to add their efforts to moves to mitigate the menace of insecurity in some parts of the country. They are said to have recorded success to the best of their ability and preparedness. There is an obvious need to have local people police their areas which is another way of calling for state police. Although the political end to which governors would deploy state police has posed a problematic knot in the implementation, the reality is that they would be closer to the people. Going by what has become of state electoral commissions and the clean sweep ruling parties make of local government elections at such polls, the fears are justified. Those concerns pale into insignificance juxtaposed with the reality of the inability of the combined efforts of  the Police, Army, Navy,  Air force, which I hear has resumed areal patrol of Sambisa Forest, and other security personnel to nip the pervasive insecurity, has not yielded desired results. People die nearly every day on account of marauding gun men, who now seem to kill for no reason. In the past suicide bombings were alien to Nigeria, so is the kind of senseless killings now pervading the country. Certainly, new approach must be deployed in tackling this matter. President Buhari must know that security of lives and property is a cardinal duty of government. It appears the strategy deployed so far may have yielded results but they are far below expectations. The president must, therefore, consider new methods and new helmsmen. I did say, in my last intervention on this matter, than Nigeria seemed to be losing more people than a nation at war. Some people said it was a sweeping exaggeration but it only takes a calculation of reported figures over a period to confirm the assertion and perhaps, for the President and his security chiefs to know that the nation is at war, and treat the matter with the aggressive   attention it deserves.

There have been insinuations, and open comments, that some military big wigs are lining their pockets in a manner that would detract from their bulging pockets should the killings stop. Again the President has a duty to do the needful if such allegations prove positive after the light of investigations have been beamed on them. If the police, as they have indicated, wants to work closely with the local vigilante in various places, then those extra hands should be trained and given arms. It will be suicidal to send them to stop people with sophisticated weapons when all they have are arrows and machetes.