HERDSMEN have the headlines this week, introducing new dimensions of denials to the security challenges Nigeria faces. The pretences at action are worse than doing nothing.

The police have announced deployment of 4,000 policemen to Plateau State, after days of killings that claimed more than 100 lives. Where were the security forces  while Fulani herdsmen descended on unarmed villagers who they killed, and killed more as they prepared to bury their dead.

Now is the time to move the security chief, in-charge of the zone to Jos to take over the security. Is it time because a senator died or that the lives of the hundreds killed in Jos alone this year were important to government?

In utter display of their flagrant disrespect for law and order, the herdsmen staged more attacks on Tuesday, meaning some villages have been attacked since Saturday. Those villages are unprotected and targets for more attacks.

Something must be wrong with a security system that reacts and which acts based on the profile of victims. What do the security agencies do with the intelligence they gather? Do governments listen to the people? Are they aware of their environments?

For more than a year, there have been media reports of daily, deadly armed robbers on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, including specific spots where police warned people to avoid.

The security forces appear to  have conceded parts of Nigeria to criminals. All the reports about the attacks staged anytime the robbers want, did not attract any action. Could it be government thought it was unimportant if road travellers died?

All that changed last Friday when Fulani herdsmen, according to the police, killed Brigadier-General Sylvester Iruh (rtd), on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway: he was a few kilometres from Lagos.

Mamman Tsafe, Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG, in charge of Zone 2, is planning a 24-hour joint police patrol of Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, by men from Lagos and Ogun commands. Motorists suggested patrols more than a year ago, the police did nothing. Does it take the death of a high ranking military officer for the police to discover the resources to protect the public?

Tsafe said: “Yes, we are aware of the attack, but I can assure you that we are making effort to commence a joint patrol of the entire area; that I can assure you.” Piecemeal attention to security will not achieve results. Once the public’s attention is off these hot spots, the security agencies will pull away.

The latest attack on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is disturbing. Nigerians are interested in seeing the police tame criminals – whether they are herdsmen or palm wine tappers is unimportant, unless herdsmen are above the law.