Security is the hallmark of a state. It is all a throw-back to the Social Contract theory, under which the people surrender part of their rights to a sovereign in exchange for security.
But under President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerians experienced a reverse: the Nigerian state literally cowered before blatant insecurity; and there was no Leviathan to the rescue. Under massive and relentless threat from Boko Haram terror and sundry violent crimes, Nigeria, since independence in 1960, came closest to state failure.
Worse: the outgoing government’s feeble response was to negotiate down its monopoly of coercion. Examples abound in the oil pipeline protection contracts it signed with firms floated by former Niger Delta militants and the Oodu’a People’s Congress (OPC) cadres. Even the brave Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF) in the North, which though is playing an admirable role in current efforts to curtail Boko Haram, if not well managed, could be a source of serious future security crises.
When the government, as the Jonathan Presidency has done, starts ceding part of its coercive powers to groups of citizens, the alarms should start clanging. That is why all that must stop under the Muhammadu Buhari government. What is called for is a new, more efficient and more effective security architecture.
But the Buhari Presidency cannot do that unless and until it appreciates the roots of the crisis. Over the years, there has, trust-wise, developed a gulf between the central primal security agencies like the Police; so much so that local communities tend to view the Police with suspicion, if not outright hatred. Also, grinding poverty of the majority had steadily alienated the Nigerian state from a big chunk of its own citizens, so much so that state security organs were only the hated faces of the hated state.
That singular factor drove militancy in the Niger Delta. It also aided the initial growth of Boko Haram, when budding terrorists on motor-bikes attacked police personnel and torched police facilities.
So, if Nigeria’s centralised primal security agencies appear too far to be trusted by Nigerian local people and communities, the first thing to do is to federalise those forces and agencies. What that means is that the Buhari Presidency must urgently work towards amending laws to legalise state police.
But since that would require constitutional amendments that could take some time, the incoming government could adopt a deliberate policy of community recruitment of intelligence personnel, both for the police and even the military, and, as much as possible, make those recruits work within their communities.
That would score two goals: avert crimes before they are committed; and eventually bolster mutual trust between communities nationwide and the security forces. Gradually, therefore, total state authority would be restored, without even appearing authoritarian.
Beyond federalisation, however, the incoming government must ensure the Police Force is adequately funded; and its budget weaned of the cankerworm of corruption, now widespread. It might also want to consider public-private collaboration, as Lagos State, under Babatunde Fashola, SAN, had gloriously pioneered.
Federalisation, however, can only apply to the civil security agencies like the Police, Department of State Security (DSS), the National Security and Civil Defence Corps.
For the military, the Buhari Presidency should opt for a clear revamping. From their clear feebleness against the Boko Haram onslaught, the Jonathan years have left the Army, Navy and Air Force in a shambles, jaded and disoriented.
So, the new government should re-arm the military, fix the morale of its personnel and make recruitment more transparent. More so, it should further professionalise the military. Since the weeding out of “political soldiers” at the advent of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidency, it would appear Jonathan’s crass politicisation of state institutions has brought the once great military very close perdition. That must not be tolerated.
Since there are hardly bad soldiers but bad officers, the Buhari Presidency should take a very close look at its officers’ corps and weed out everyone found to have compromised their military essence and betrayed their service oath. That done, military budget too must be sacrosanct. That is the only way fresh investments in ordinance and even training would restore the military’s pride.
Still, after all said and done, the greatest security of security is a good economy. A sound economy greatly reduces mass poverty; therefore removing the nursery from whence tension breeds.
