Reps in search of solution to security challenges.

From Sokoto to Calabar and Lagos to Maiduguri, the story is the same. Insecurity is starring all in the face. From Boko Haram insurgency to bandit attacks, kidnaping for ransome and armed robbery, the nation has been held by the jugular by criminal elements. Two years after holding a national security summit whose recommendation is currently gathering dust in the shelves, the House of Representatives is planning another National Legislative Summit to find lasting solution to the problem. TONY AKOWE examines the recommendations of the last summit and the plan by the parliament.

When bandits started invading, killing and burning down communities in Southern Kaduna in the early part of the last decade, many leaders of the North looked away. Those who found their voice to speak tried to justify those attacks, describing them as reprisal attacks. Nothing concrete was done to halt these attacks and ensure the act of criminality is punished. Also, across the South, several such attacks and kidnaping for ransome and bloodletting was seen by leaders in the region as call for freedom

The Boko Haram crisis was also seen as a Borno or North East problem until the group started bombing places in Kaduna, Kano and Abuja. Then came the herders/farmer clashes and the nation kept silent while the criminal elements build their nest around the country in different style and operation. Today, no community in the country is spared of the monster that would have been tamed early enough. Unfortunately, nobody has been punished for these acts of criminalities

Even though several arrests have been made or so it seems, nobody has been convicted for these crimes, while several Nigerians have either died or maimed for life. School children in some states of the federation were kidnapped while some are killed even after ransome have been paid on them. In some cases, millions of naira are transferred into bank accounts as ransome, yet none of the owners of those accounts have been traced even with the introduction of the Bank Verification Number. Telephone numbers are used indiscriminately to contact families of kidnapped victims, yet none of the owners of those numbers has been traced even after the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) directed that all phone line must be linked with the National Identity Numbers. Unfortunately, several pre-registered phone numbers are being sold across the country today. In some cases, old telephone lines which the first owners stopped using several years ago are sold to others with the name of the original owner on it. The criminal elements are aware this and may have resorted to buying these new lines for use so as not to be traced easily.

In March 2019, former President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the N1.2 billion surveillance and monitoring system at the Command-and-Control Centre built by the Kaduna State. The system was aimed at tackling the security challenges in the state. It involved the use of technology in tackling the security architecture in Kaduna state. several months after the commissioning, residents of the state could not go to sleep with their eyes closed due to the activities of bandits that kidnapped at will and terrorized the state. From Zaria to Birnin Gwari and to the southern part of the state, the story was the same. Inspite of the aerial surveillance and monitoring system which included a combination of fixed wind drones and higher resolution cameras that are put in several locations across the state, it appeared the system could not achieve the aim it was meant for

At one of the sittings of the House of Representatives during the 9th Assembly, the then Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase came close to tears narrating how bandits, kidnappers and their collaborators arrested by Soldiers and local Vigilantes and handed over to the police released by the Police. Wase told his colleagues that even his personal intervention was not given the required attention by the police as those who kidnapped his village head and were arrested in Taraba by Vigilante groups were released by the police immediately, they were handed over to them. He said: “I want to say with lots of pain that the security is not helping the situation. while the citizens are doing their best, making efforts to resolve the matter through their vigilante and other operations to protect their communities, the security is not helping out. For example, my district head’s wife was kidnapped. The vigilante went as far as Taraba to get those bandits and release the woman. As I speak with you, those bandits have been released by the police.

Recently, there was another arrest made of someone who was found to be conspiring with bandits. He made a statement on video which went viral. As I speak, that person has been released. The soldiers and Vigilante in my village made arrest and those people have also been released. I am worried that if those arrested are given to the police, they will also be released. This does not stop in Plateau. My nephew working in Kaduna was kidnapped and the security traced him to Birnin Gwari and arrest was made and he was rescued. Among those arrested was one of his house helps. All those arrested have been released. My nephew was later called and told that the case is spoilt because the first information report has been removed from the file. I saw a video trending of two policemen who were dismissed from the Service. They came to Nasarawa to arrest some armed robbers. they were offered N8 million to release the robbers, but they refused. The two of them were dismissed for not cooperating. I am concerned about the activities of some of our men in the field. We may never solve this problem until a drastic action is taken. I cannot imagine the DPO who sets those people free sitting back there. Security is everybody’s business and we are all contributing to secure what God has given us, but some people are taking us back. The House need to go after those officers who are not willing to allow peace to reign in our country, but bring us bad names. We can only give directives and there will be arrest, yet you don’t hear of any conviction even when there has been parade of those criminals. What happened to them? There is even no attempt to take them to the court of law. So, I think we end to do something and make Nigeria a peaceful place to live in”.

It is an irony that despite several arrest that have been made in the past, no one has been convicted for any of these criminal activities. Rather, community leaders have often honoured some of the leaders of the bandits, while those directly involved in the activities still live in penury. Cases abound where unnamed highly placed individuals put so much pressure on the police to release those arrested. Some of those so released have often gone to show themselves to those they believed reported them, boasting that they are out because of their connections

With these issues in mind, the 9th House of Representatives organized a national security summit which brought together experts and other stakeholders to find lasting solutions to the insecurity in the country. The outcome of the summit was presented to former President Muhammadu Buhari by the leadership of the House at a brief ceremony attended by the Service Chiefs. The then Speaker and current Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila told the world then that the President commit to full implementation of the executive component of the recommendations. Gbajabiamila said in his forward to the 146 paged report of the National Security Summit with the many security challenges facing the country, all hands have to be on deck and all arms of government have to do all that is possible to contribute ideas and actions that will birth the solutions needed to secure the lives and properties of Nigerians as envisaged in Section 14 (2)(b) of our Constitution which states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”.

Gbajabiamila said while the causes of insecurity in the country are diverse and multifaceted, the summit report encompasses the wide spectrum of causations of insecurity and provides dozens of recommendations for both Legislative and Executive actions. He assured then that the House of Representatives will take its responsibilities seriously and work to deliver a legislative agenda and program that will seek to deliver on its own elements of the recommendations. He told the House after presenting the recommendations to the then President that the government has committed to implementing the report. While the report has become one of the documents on the shelves of policy implementors in the country, the nation bleed as a result of rising insecurity. In Abuja, the nation’s capital, the situation as degenerated from one chance to neigbourhood kidnap with informants to bandits abounding everywhere.

Gbajabiamila had admitted during the summit that “at this time of our national history, when insecurity threatens the authority of the state and the foundations of our nationhood with the activities of insurgents, bandits, and criminals of every stripe impede our efforts at progress and prosperity, we must confront the realisation that our previous and current approaches to addressing the challenges of insecurity have not yielded desired result.” Even though the document was not implemented by the Buhari administration, it is expected that as Chief of Staff to the President, the former Speaker should bring the document and the recommendations contained in it to the attention of the current President.

Part of the recommendations of the summit contained in its 146 paged report was the need to immediately enhanced the training for the Police Mobile Unit to improve their capacity to deal with insecurity. It said “while a special team of 40,000 Police Mobile Unite officers should undergo this special training, 1,000 should then be deployed to every state for immediate operations, while the North East, South West, South East can receive the officers remaining out of the 40,000”. The Gbajabiamila summit also recommended the creation of “a new team under the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to train and work with the guards of Nigeria’s forest. This unit will collaborate with the current Forest Guards who will remain under the control of States”. The summit also recommended that the security agencies be encouraged to initiate a screening and vetting program of all frontline officers of the Nigerian military to fish out moles and double-agents who have so far compromised most efforts at combating insecurity and win the war against insurgents and terrorists”. The Executive was required to initiate a Presidential Police Reform initiative that will be resident within the Presidency, while an operational specialised unit should be established within the Police Force to champion and drive all the change initiatives based on a Presidential Policing Reform Roadmap from within the institution.

Other recommendations include to “Give immediate consideration to the use of Private Defence Contractors for targeted security operations to combat insurgency and terrorism especially and use all means at its disposal to require the creation of a protocol that will compel intelligence (as a matter of necessity) sharing amongst all security agencies; deploy Early Warning Systems nationwide including installation of CCTV cameras and other surveillance, satellite and electronic equipment along major highways, public places, and major cities and our borders; establish and strengthen a National Crisis Centre (NCC) within the Nigerian Police which will be the national coordinating centre for all civil security response actions and monitoring of resolutions of such with monthly reporting on all incidents as well as serving as a central place for any Nigerian to report major security incidents”. Also recommended was “the creation of Local Security Committees in all 774 Local Government Areas. This panel should include Traditional Rulers, Religious institutions, and local opinion leaders. This should be managed by the NPF as part of its Community Policing mandate; the NSA in collaboration with civil security agencies should identify, map, and arrest cult group leaders, violent agitators, and networks of criminal groups at tertiary education level as well as society at large; target poverty as a must; as poverty is the main driver for all the insecurity issues currently prevalent across the nation. This can be done through a focus on infrastructure and a new jobs’ creation drive and initiative by the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Executive is also urged to consider doing even more by declaring a state of emergency on job creation considering the high rate of unemployment.

In the next step, Nigeria should reach out to overseas arms dealers to enlist their cooperation against the sales of arms to non-state actors. A third step should be a major diplomatic initiative with the governments of countries known to have companies engaged in selling arms to non-state actors. Continuous Arms-Collection and Depository scheme should be established national to encourage disposal and collection of illegal firearms”.Two and half years after the House of Representatives held a well-attended security which made wide range suggestions on how to tackle the security challenges in the country, the House again is planning another round of security summit. This is even as the recommendations of the last summit which had both legislative and executive component have not been implemented. While the National Assembly is yet to pass the laws presented to the House as a result of suggestions from the summit are yet to be passed, the Executive has also not implemented components of the recommendations that required executive actions.