The challenging security situation in the country is expected to receive a fresh initiative following the meeting held by the President, state governors and security chiefs last week. This is in line with the President’s earlier promise that there would be a change in government’s anti-terrorism tactics.
Security of lives and property get priority even in normal times. In a situation of increasing fear of insecurity as a general election is fast approaching, a more strategic engagement of our security system has become quite imperative.
Increasing terrorist attacks in some parts of the country in an increasing political temperature is a warning signal that our national security architecture needs to be overhauled in order to brace up for greater challenges ahead. The political atmosphere of the nation has tensed up in the past three to four years to the point that terrorism and politics seem to ominously find a meeting point.
The new dimension of insecurity calls equally for new approaches involving greater responsibility on the part of the various levels of government, as well as, individuals in generating vital security information needed to act promptly and effectively. We need to cultivate urgently a national consciousness in which the people and governments wake up to a joint responsibility of ensuring adequate security of lives and properties in our nation.
While it is necessary to encourage our people to take up greater responsibility in providing security information, it remains the primary duty of government to ensure national security. Therefore, fresh initiatives are expected from federal and state governments to follow the top-level meeting on the security situation held last Friday.
Part of this initiative should be to beam a searchlight on the political angles of the problem with a view to identifying the critical links with terrorist groups. The battle against terrorism will be as good as won once the links are exposed and broken.
It has become apparent that terrorism has powerful links and sources of strength upon which it has continued to thrive. This is the only explanation for its sustaining resistance amid the deployment of full military operation against terrorist operations. The fundamental sources of funding and information sustaining terrorism should be the focus of the fresh initiative expected.
As part of the fresh initiative, state governments should take greater responsibility in ensuring adequate security within their geographical boundaries. No matter the actions the federal government might take to ensure general security of the nation, there are certain specific steps and actions that state governments must take to deal with security problems peculiar to them.
A case in point is the general decline in cases of kidnapping in the south east, particularly in Imo State. Parents and relatives now report their family members involved in the crime to the police in order to avoid possible demolition and seizure of their family houses by government.
The improved information flow is what the state government needs to deal with the problem of kidnapping in the state. Members of the public are now willing to provide this information because of the initiative of the state government that encourages or compels them to do so.
The south east example is a good reminder to us that internal security challenges such as we are presently facing call for more grass roots treatment than a central action by the federal government. Therefore, state governments need to wake up to a significantly increased responsibility for enforcing security in their states compared to what they have done until now.
Being closer to the people, state governments understand issues and problems within the state and are better positioned to know what will motivate their people into positive actions and responses and what will make them draw back. A system of incentives for people to provide information on terrorist activities will be a welcome idea in the fresh initiative against terrorism that we are expecting from government.
We believe that if a state government is unable to deal with the security challenges within its enclave, nobody else can. Besides, security is the main element of all their electoral promises to the people. Whatever infrastructures and other developments they are recording in their states, the people need to be alive to enjoy them.
We have need for a united effort on the part of our people, our various governments and political parties to take on a fresh initiative in dealing with our present security challenges. We need an improved general security environment for an orderly conduct of the upcoming elections.
We agree with the President that no matter the evil that terrorists have unleashed upon this nation, government has the might it will take to overcome the challenges we face. We believe that government is capable of continually devising new strategies to end the evil of terrorism in our country. The situation now requires state governors to rise up to the responsibility of exploiting the peculiar circumstances of their states to work out improved security situations in the states where they stand as chief security officers of their respective states.
