By Prisca Sam-Duru

In 2021, some Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, raised the alarm over planned amnesty for repentant Boko Haram members.

The alarm came when the Nigerian Army announced in August 2021 according to reports, that no fewer than 1,000 Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (a Boko Haram offshoot) members had laid down their arms and surrendered to the troops.

That alarm by the SANs was not the only time Nigerians cautioned the government about the dangers of reintegrating the so-called repentant terrorists into society. Individuals who summoned courage and voiced their concerns during President Buhari’s tenure were branded enemies of the government. And so, acts of terrorism continued.

It’s absolutely interesting that this time, the government had to hear it from the horse’s mouth. That service chiefs’ session with the House of Representatives at the plenary in Abuja was a huge eye-opening event for Nigerians. Their Tuesday presentation was a sharp contrast to what Nigerians witnessed in the past when they would be political and economic with the truth. This time, the service chiefs were bold enough to explain why it appears that security agencies were underperforming as well as what needs to be done to secure Nigeria.

The part where the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa defined security to include good governance is just the gospel truth the government mustn’t joke with. It’s not only because it’s coming from Gen. Musa after all, Nigerians have been demanding good governance for ages. It’s a fact that if the economy is fantastic, there are jobs for the teeming population of youths roaming the streets and destroying their lives with hard drugs, there will be fewer crimes and security challenges. If the citizens enjoy basic amenities, hardly will any be lured into violent and or criminal activities.

“Security is not only military security. We have food security, health security, social security and education security. All these always play a role. If we don’t put these things in place – good governance – there will be problems.

“We have realized that the magic wand to address insecurity is good governance. Anywhere you have good governance, insecurity goes down. The security forces can only produce 30 per cent. We can only provide an enabling environment. If other aspects are not addressed, it is a problem.

“People can’t eat. People are hungry. No matter how you tell them to keep the peace, they will not because they have to eat and it aids criminality. So, we must have good governance,” Musa stated.

Now, there goes the big one on the judiciary and the Nigeria Correctional Centres. These according to Gen. Musa, are responsible for the inability of the security agencies to combat security challenges bedevilling the country. He also mentioned the porous national borders as a huge challenge noting that it is responsible for smuggling light weapons and small arms into the country.

“I have been in the North-East; there were a lot of Boko Haram elements that have been captured. We have kept them for five/six years. We the armed forces can arrest but cannot prosecute. Some of them have been found wanting but no prosecution.

“Another aspect of the judiciary is that you use all your effort to make an arrest, you hand them over, and before you enter your vehicle, the man has been released on bail. Now you have risked yourself in doing that, by the time he is released, he goes to tell the people about the person who arrested him. Now your family members or you are at risk.” 

It’s crystal clear that it is not only on electoral matters that the judiciary is earning for itself a bad name. This arm of government really needs reforms and re-branding.

On the correctional facilities, he said, “In the North East, when we were debriefing some of the arrested Boko Haram members, they were telling us how, from the prison, they could plan operations out in the field.

“They pass funds across. They use some of the warders there. We are not saying all of them are corrupt. They use their accounts and the deal is that anyone whose account is used shares it 50/50. Those are the challenges.”

What then is the need to arrest Boko Haram fighters when they continue their criminal operations in jail? Worse is that as the Chief of Defence Staff noted, afterwards they are seen again on the streets as free citizens. It’s obvious that the corrupt prison officers who do the deals with the outlaws are either sympathetic to them or terrorists themselves.

In addition to revealing how underfunded the Armed forces have been, Musa lamented that the high dollar rate had hindered the purchase of relevant equipment needed to tackle insecurity.

“We don’t produce what we need in Nigeria and if you do not produce what you need, that means you are at the beck and call of the people that produce these items,” he stated. Quite sad for this country!

For the Chief of Naval Staff, Emmanuel Ogalla, who first noted that the Navy was doing its best to secure the nation’s territorial waters, also lamented the impact of the resurgence of sea pirates, oil thieves and operational challenges of manpower and funds, etc.

Also, Chief of Air Staff Hassan Abubakar disclosed that in the course of performing their duty, the Nigerian Air Force experienced challenges ranging from the rising cost of aviation fuel, delays in the release of funds for procurement, complexity in targeting terrorists within the populace, porous borders and manpower disposition. The problems of terrorists living among the populace is not only caused by porous borders as we have been made to understand now but also, by reintegrating terrorists into society. “The country’s land borders, including those with Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Togo, spanning about 4,000km, are mostly insecure and poorly manned. These porous borders exacerbate arms proliferation and illegal movement of people and goods, which contribute to the problem of insecurity and further enable insurgents to operate freely,” Abubakar disclosed.

For the Nigeria Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun said that the Police were operating in a very difficult environment with inadequate manpower, operational logistics, training and funding, adding that he met a battered force. Wow! This is a serious revelation. Little wonder armed robbers and burglars are having a field day in so many communities.

The statements by the Defence Chiefs speak eloquently about how corruption has destroyed the fabric of the country. It’s also a massive indictment on the past administration which left the northern borders of the country porous while shutting down those in the south for years.

One can at this juncture say salute to the Defence Chiefs for their boldness and decision to let Nigerians know the true situation of things. 

The presentation of their challenges was the most honest so far, and it is expected that the government would do the needful to keep law-abiding citizens safe in their fatherland.