THE concept of using violence on innocent and defenceless  people as a bargaining chip, especially over religious and secular issues is novel to Nigeria. Security agents are now faced with a massive challenge combating non-state actors that can be essentially classified as invisible enemies with no defined leadership, rational and plausible agenda.

Consequently, the orientation and structure of our national security was not primed to capture the sadistic glee derived from causing the deaths of innocent people to make political statements and in the process attract vile publicity.

Nevertheless, the challenge before Nigeria’s security community is how to deal with the growing urban and grassroots terrorism. Before now, Nigerians have seen groups like IRA, Tamil Tigers, September 12, FARC, Red Brigade, the Maoists and Shining Path, Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations that were engaged in various forms of asymmetric war as distant phenomenon.

The Nigeria Police and other security agencies were concerned with such crimes as armed robbery, which came with the end of the civil war, other crimes like trafficking in human beings and narcotics, kidnapping, financial crimes, among others, were seen as part of the dynamism of social transformations and modernisation process of any society.

Worrisome therefore, is the fact that the country has become a theatre of ethnic and religious bigotry which now manifests itself in the use of terrorism for self or group expression. The symbolic bombing of the UN Building in Abuja hauled a global odium on the perpetrators but further diminished our national and international image. It equally blighted the cause of the terrorists and their sponsors.

While we agree with the National Council of State on the need to tinker with the national’s security apparatus, we want to state that the issue facing the nation’s security is beyond personnel changes just to satisfy geo-political calculations. Rather, it is a matter of building capacity, creating effective structures, funding and training of manpower, to cope with the new threat.

All over the world, the task of providing funding and creating the appropriate structures to deal with intelligence gathering and counter-terrorism strategies, are cost intensive and energy sapping and unproductive venture. In a country where the resource capabilities are finite, spreading the existing resources into an un-regenerative venture as crime and terrorism is a major drawback. Having studied the concept of providing physical security needs for the country,

it is important to expand our understanding of national security beyond the protection of  the lives of the state and public office because the other components such as social security and food security, resource and economic security are integral part of the social contract. They are germane to the effective functioning of the state security system.

Hence, any disruption in the other components triggers off negative consequences within the system. We regard it as parochial, to neglect the socio-political and economic discontents in the system and expect functional national security. We also want to advocate a drastic reduction in the security vote to public office holders which is treated as slush funds to fight political battles or to be embezzled. A greater part of the fund should be channelled to agencies that have operational responsibilities for state and national security.

Now, we must recognise that we live in a global environment, where online transfer of knowledge is digitalised. The interaction among people and flow of information and technology to produce dangerous weapons are by the speed of light readily available. Our exposure and behaviour in the international system also have serious national security implications, yet our concept of state and national security is that it is an exclusive preserve of the state and its agencies.

These anachronistic mindsets must change in line with Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s advocacy of citizen’s participation in national security, especially, in grassroots and situational security awareness and consciousness. We want to strongly advocate the need to classify our national assets and define their security needs, as at today most of our social, economic structures, national and financial institutions as well as our resource locations, are without security protection and could be subjected to devastating terrorist attacks.

The absence of such classification has created a situation where the leadership of our national security agencies is engaged in inter and intra agency contest superiority, perennial bickering, to undermine each other, leaving their operatives to roam the streets and highways, intimidating the citizens and extorting money from them, in the process, they alienate members of the public from the security arrangement.

It is on this premise that we suggest that it is important to go beyond the physical security threat represented by Boko Haram and look at the other critical components such as: trans-border terrorism, cyber and narco terrorism, aviation and maritime terrorism. There is equally the grassroots terrorism carried out by groups, who perambulate the streets with their daggers and bows and arrows, and other dangerous weapons that are deplored to use at the slightest provocation. Tackling all these challenges require proper orientation, structures and strategies that will produce enduring results.

We believe that time has come for Nigerian to set up a National Counter Terrorism Centre, under the office of the NSA, to co-ordinate intelligence gathering from all sectors and all segments of the society local and internationally.

It will also handle national electronic and surveillance and monitoring equipments at the national levels while local and state governments should replicate similar arrangement to free the police and other existing agencies to perform operational duties relying on the supplied intelligence report.

Security reports should not be treated as sacrosanct. The office of the NSA must make itself available to suggestions and ready to work with institutions and organisations, that can bring fresh ideas that will enhance its operations rather than see itself as presidential maiguard. It is embarrassing, to say the least, to see how leaderless grassroots terror groups, have been outsmarting our national security and intelligence agencies because the existing structures were not designed to be cerebral in their modus operandi.

We need capacity rather than engage in musical chair, just to satisfy geo-political exigencies.