By Emma Nnadozie, Crime Editor

FOLLOWING the security lapses that trailed last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections across the country, some private security chiefs have charted a way forward, especially in view of the governorship poll coming up on March 11.

It will be recalled that political thugs disrupted the voting process, instilling fears in the electorate, with many disenfranchised  in the recent polls.

Retired Nigerian Army Colonel, Dan Amuta, who is now a private security consultant,  bemoaned lack of contingency plans in some of Nigeria’s security operations.

He said:   “Why should government put all our eggs in one basket? Why should we depend on one security agency (in this case, the police) to be responsible for election security? 

”We ought to have personnel of different security agencies at the polling units, with each agency acting as a check on the other.   The security contingency plan is very poor, so there is need for improvement.”

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Kontz Engineering, an electronic security company, said: “In a situation like what played out during last Saturday’s election. actions are built on intentions and the only ones we act on, are those that we see. There are so many silent actions that instigate other actions. 

A former Chief Security Officer with Diamond Bank, now a security consultant; Dr. Felix Amah Nnachi, said it was unfortunate that Nigerians had not learnt anything from incidents that occurred with past elections.   

Nnachi said:   “I would have expected this election to be a reference point for other countries in Africa but with late arrival and lack of electoral materials, deprivation of electorate from voting, poor manpower, snatching of ballot boxes, non-transmission of results immediately after voting ended, exclusion of party agents from collation centres, the failure of BVAS etc, casts doubts on the integrity of the 2023 presidential election.”

Similarly, the Director-General of the Institute of Security Nigeria, ISN, University of Lagos, Adebayo Akinade, noted prior to the election exercise, several workshops, seminars and training sessions on election security and intelligence were organized for security and law enforcement personnel.