Nigeria: When solution becomes the problem

The disturbing curve and general outcry of insecurity in the Nigerian system perpetrated by insurgents, kidnappers and armed robbers of different shades necessitated a look at government’s initiatives and strategies aimed at curbing the menace. However, findings indicate that government’s game plan and other sundry initiatives contribute more to the problems than solutions. This is validated by the fact that each time Boko Haram and ISWAP overpowered a military base, they seized caches of assault rifles and hundreds or thousands of rounds of ammunition for  use in later strikes, fuelling their bloody rebellions and making nonsense of government’s huge expenditure on arms and ammunition procurement. Valentine Oleabhiele writes

“At home, we face enormous challenges. Insecurity, pervasive corruption and power shortages are the immediate concerns. We are going to tackle them head on. Nigerians will not regret that they have entrusted national responsibility to us. We must not succumb to hopelessness and defeatism. We can fix our problems.

The most immediate is Boko Haram’s insurgency. Progress has been made in recent weeks by our security forces but victory can not be achieved by basing the Command and Control Centre in Abuja. The command centre will be relocated to Maiduguri and remain until Boko Haram is completely subdued. But we can not claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents.

This government will do all it can to rescue them alive. Boko Haram is a typical example of small fires causing large fires. An eccentric and unorthodox preacher with a tiny following was given posthumous fame and following by his extra judicial murder at the hands of the police. Since then through official bungling, negligence, complacency or collusion Boko Haram became a terrifying force taking tens of thousands of lives and capturing several towns and villages covering swathes of Nigerian sovereign territory.………….. For now the Armed Forces will be fully charged with prosecuting the fight against Boko Haram. We shall overhaul the rules of engagement to avoid human rights violations in operations. We shall improve operational and legal mechanisms so that disciplinary steps are taken against proven human right violations by the Armed Forces. We have an opportunity. Let us take it.”

The above is an excerpts from the inaugural speech by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari following his swearing-in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on  May 29, 2015.

There was hope in the air. Citizens were enthusiastic about an imminent solution to issues that have kept them gasping for breath the years before.

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the party that lost at the presidential poll to the All Progressives Congress, APC,  was seen as a fugitive, the worst that ever happened to Nigerian’s  quest for equitable standard of living. To an extent, they were not wrong.

Having enjoyed presidential power for 16 years, PDP was obviously become bereft of ideas on how to move Nigeria forward. Insecurity was one area the party couldn’t just find solution and at best, PDP was helpless and the country was severed by Boko Haram.

With that scenario,  it was not difficult to decipher the reasons citizens were happy about the change of government.

But regrettably, nothing has changed almost six years after those promising and assuring statements at Abuja Eagle Square, the venue of presidential oath taking.

Only recently, incidences of killings, kidnapping and high tech robberies indicate that the beautiful ones are not yet born. In specific term, some of the solutions and strategies initiated by government are not working.  Every day, things degenerate into frightening proportion. The administrative order, at inception of Buhari’s government to relocate the “Command and Control” of the Nigerian army from Abuja to Maiduguri, the haven of insurgents, have not resolved killings.

For instance, fresh revelations have emerged on how Boko Haram insurgents attacked Garkida town in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State for six hours on February 22 night. The town is located on the Gombi-Biu-Damaturu Road, which shares proximity with Southern Borno and Sambisa Forest.

OpenLife investigation reveals that while police barracks, churches and a house belonging to Gen Paul Tarfa (retd.) were among several buildings burnt by the terrorists during the attack, the Islamic State’s West Africa Province claimed responsibility for the attack, alleging that they killed three soldiers and took some worshippers in a church hostage in addition to other villagers in the community.

Though army officers were said to have engaged the terrorists in a fierce gun battle, many persons were feared killed by the invaders who announced their entry into the town by shooting aimlessly.

The insurgents came in their numbers with several vans to ransack the town, looting pharmaceutical shops and homes for foodstuffs.

A source said, “They had unfettered access because a battalion of troops in the town was withdrawn sometime back, leaving behind just a few soldiers who could not repel the insurgents. After looting, they burnt down a police barracks, police station, two churches; Living Faith and EYN, and a shopping mall.”

 Expectedly,  former vice-president and presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 elections, Atiku Abubakar, decried the attacks on his Twitter page, while lamenting the increasing attacks by the insurgents.  “The attack by Boko Haram against lives and properties of innocent Nigerians is unbecoming. My prayers are with the people of Garkida in my home state of Adamawa over the cowardly attack that happened over the weekend. May God give the affected families fortitude to bear the loss,” he wrote.

To demonstrate how ineffective solutions to terrorism has been, Federal Government announcement in December that it would withdraw troops from areas where peace had been restored. Since then,  no fewer than 268 persons had been killed by bandits and Boko Haram terrorists since January 2020.

Apparently shocked by the spate of killings by the insurgents in recent times, Buhari had said when he received a delegation of Eminent and Respected Citizens of Niger State, led by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, to the State House, Abuja, that the recent activities of the terrorist group were surprising.  “During our campaigns, we knew about the Boko Haram. What is coming now is surprising. It is not ethnicity or religion, rather it is one evil plan against the country. We have to be harder on them. One of the responsibilities of government is to provide security.”

Feeling sad, renowned Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Matthew Kukah recalled Buhari’s promise during the 2015 electioneering when he stated while campaigning that if he was elected, the world would not have to worry about insecurity in Nigeria. Kukah disclosed this  at the burial of the 18-year-old seminarian, Nnadi, killed by gunmen,  Kukah, however, pointed out that five years after,  Buhari has brought nepotism and clannishness into the military and the ancillary security agencies.

As a demonstration of loss of confidence in the government,  Buhari’s convoy was booed in Maiduguri, in apparent protest against the level of insecurity in the state. Buhari had headed straight to Borno on his arrival from Ethiopia, where he attended the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union.

A report by a British investigator, Kurtis Palms exposed  the loopholes in peace keeping operations

“They’re coming under attack and they’re losing a lot of lives — and weaponry. The armed groups are becoming stronger as a result of the lethal material they claim from peacekeepers who are ostensibly there to defeat them.”

In some cases, entire battalions are overrun, like in Boko Haram’s rout of a military base and 700 troops in Jilli, in Yobe state, in July 2018. In others, rebels hit patrols of a dozen soldiers and make off after loading up with guns and ammo.

Weapons airdrops to resupply peacekeepers can fall into the wrong hands. Convoys are prone to raids. Underpaid soldiers from morale-sapped units have been known to make cash trading guns on the side, Berman said. 

The true scale of the problem is unknown — top brass typically keep quiet about missing field artillery. At the very least, “crates and crates” of thousands of weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition have been lost to the bad guys, Kurtis  said. 

Meanwhile, as insecurity rages on, studies have shown that the rich lives longer and even heartier than those grasping for survival at the lowest strata of the food chain ―the poor. And in a third world country, living in penury is a veritable and potent weapon for easy death. The wealthy may reach into their storehouse and exchange pounds for better healthcare and security; simply put, the rich by virtue of their resources can buy more time on earth while the poor can only cling on means less elusive: fate and then hope and prayer. But by some very shred measures, the situation in Nigeria seems to have put this idea to mockery. 

In today’s Nigeria, an individual’s networth cannot keep him out of danger’s reach and the grip of cruel men. And this is not just a myth. While Boko Haram insurgency, herdsmen violence and banditry have thrived unabated, the upsurge in kidnapping for ransom has taken prominence with the wealthy as prime targets.

Court judges, prominent traditional rulers, politicians and even highly ranked security personnel have been reportedly kidnapped with ransom lengthy negotiated before they regain freedom.

This reality brings to fore the worsening state of insecurity across the country. It exemplifies the wretched fate and vulnerability of the common man, maligned and deserted at the mercy of merciless terror. Again, this places huge emphasis on the governments’ evident failures in the fight against terrorism, chewing on her inability to fulfill her most rudimental function, which is to protect lives and properties of the citizenry.

How we got here

A review of the rise in violence and bloody confrontations can be traced to politicians and their quest for power. Since the return of democracy, politicians set a precedence of utilizing violence and intimidation to complement campaign for the purpose of victories at the polls. In the buildup to elections, groups are armed and charged to perpetrate violence and intimidate voters at units that are out of their sponsor’s reach. This often leads to hostility with opposing group and they leave tears and blood in their wake. And when the tide of electioneering has abated, these groups still in possession of arms tend to utilize it as an effectual means to retain relevance and survival.

Further review brings to attention the never-ending agitation for equitable revenue distribution and resource control and it contributing effect to the increase of violence in Nigeria. There is a long held sensitivity of ostracism by a section of the country in terms of political patronage and government development. The South East stand recognized on this regard, and this perception has kindled resentment and revolt through the now proscribed IPOB movement.

Going further south, even after the amnesty program by the Umar Yar’Adua administration, the Niger Delta still remains a hotbed of viciousness with a considerable stockpile of arms lurking in the creeks, while the occasional confrontations between contending actors and government forces, fuels general insecurity.

Again, ethno-religious disharmony and porous border has by far had a much significant impact in the surge of insecurity in Nigeria, especially in the North. Book Haram and ISWAP are foundationally motivated by religious fundamentalism. Fulani herdsmen clashes with farmers are partly spiked by ethnic differentiations. And banditry which has seen has taken prominence lately is being breed by foreigners who move arms effortlessly through the land borders across the North.

And while the highlights in previous paragraphs are veritable source of generalized violence in Nigeria, the bigger problem stems from wanton corruption, underdevelopment, joblessness, lack of education and penury. These are foundational factors of national stability and when they are overlooked and unaccounted for, it creates a people and an environment destined for chaos that has the tendency to spill continent-wide.

After a 12 days mission in Nigeria, in a preliminary statement, Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard reportedly lamented that “The overall situation I encountered in Nigeria gives rise to extreme concern.” The United Nation tagged Nigeria a ‘Pressure Cooker’ owing to the spate of internal conflict. And according to the World Economic Forum, Nigeria ranked 5th in the top 10 most dangerous countries in the world.

This security situation has compelled the people to seek self in shielding themselves from danger. One of the most prominent of these is the Operation Amotekun by the South West governors. The security establishment is designated to help police the region against violence especially from invaders like herdsmen and bandits who are ethnically Fulanis. The controversy fueled by the institutionalization of a regional armed security outfit has been on the front burner of national discussion. And it has degenerated into a battle of words between the Northern and Southern divide.

Salvaging the situation

Strengthening the weak security system is by far the most relevant leeway out of the quagmire of conflict the nation is caught in. The Nigerian security formations should be reviewed, corruption should be stamped out and personnel must be well funded and motivated. The use of advance technology and large collection of data to profile people will aide intelligence gathering, logistics and sharing would generally enhance the system.

How the government is proactive and preemptive in dealing with security warnings and threats would also determine by a good measure how safety is guaranteed. And a proper synergy between all security arms is a formal for success.

By and large, everything else in the country is founded on a strong and stable economic policy. With large scale economic development, evenly distributed government appointment development, human capital is increased and the populace is harmonious and engages gainfully while the government earns handsomely from tax and foreign exchange.  This would invariably mean people would have more value for life and living, thereby reducing the attraction for violent crime.