NATIONAL SECURITY: CAN WE PANIC NOW?

DA DA IDO

DITV/ALHERI RADIO, KADUNA

NEWS ANALYSIS/COMMENTARY

14^TH November, 2011

NATIONAL SECURITY: CAN WE PANIC NOW?

          The Ministers of Defence and Information granted interviews recently which are revealing in term of the thinking of the Federal Government regarding the escalating threats to national security. The Minister of Defence, Dr Bello Halliru Mohammed spoke to the BBC, during which he admitted that the recent attacks by the Yusifiyya movement, otherwise known as Boko Haram in Borno and Yobe States took the security agencies by surprise. He also said that government had successfully stopped attacks in Abuja, Suleja and its environs. He emphasised the resolve of the Federal Government to prevent attacks and death of citizens from activities of Boko Haram militants and the Joint Task Force. The strategy of government, he says, is to contain the problem in and around Maiduguri, and to seek for solutions for it, where it originates. He also said that the federal government is looking at all reports on recent or past incidents of violence in the country, and will implement their recommendations. He also referred to other crises in Jos and Kaduna, and amazingly, could not remember the name of Kafanchan, so he referred to it as the other town in southern Kaduna State, after mentioning Zango Kataf.

          The Minister of Information also granted an interview to the Daily Trust newspaper, during which he said that no issue has taken up more of the attention of government than the issue of insecurity in the country. He said that the fight against terror, which is new to Nigeria, is being taken seriously by government, and there have been operations, deployments and arrests by the security agencies, which he described as among the best in Africa. He regretted what he sees as the tendency of the opposition to take comments and statements of Mr. President out of context on the issue of security, including the statement he made on the need for Nigerians to pray over the state of security in the country.

          Even as the two Ministers spoke, bombs were going off in Bauchi. The old flashpoint of Kafanchan had flared up again, and only the massive deployment of security personnel and the physical relocation of the State Commissioner of Police to the beleaguered town and the imposition of a 24 hour curfew prevented another round of bloodbath. The Joint Task Force in Jos had to issue warnings against attempts to cause more trouble in this embattled city. Citizens were receiving text messages not to come to Abuja through Kaduna or travel through Gonin Gora in Kaduna State to Abuja, and the State Government had to undertake a vigorous campaign to assure citizens that the route is safe. Lagos State Government is reported to be taking extraordinary measures to protect key and vulnerable points as a result of rumours of impending attacks from Boko Haram militants. Boko Haram says it will attack Nigerians and the agents of the Nigerian State again and again. And the Federal Government is cordoning off the Central Business District and major government establishments, obviously because it takes the threat very seriously.

When he spoke at the 17^th Nigeria Economic Summit in Abuja a few days ago, President Jonathan referred to the security situation in the country as a temporary setback which will be overcome. The international investor community for which the remark is obviously intended would naturally hope so. The very hotel in which the Summit held was declared a no-go area by the US Government only a few days ago. The international community has a choice to live in Nigeria or leave it; to invest here or take it elsewhere. But Nigerians have no such luxury. They are constantly exposed to bombs and bullets and frightening rumours in a widening conflict in which the insurgents appear to be gaining more ground and confidence. Containment strategy died, if it ever lived that is, when Boko Haram bombed Police Headquarters and the UN Building in Abuja. Its total impotence was demonstrated many times through many attacks, the most recent being the devastating onslaught in Damaturu and Potiskum in Yobe State. So the federal government cannot claim any success in terms of containing the hostility of Boko Haram to Borno State; unless by that, it means that no bombs have gone off in Abuja since the UN Building incident. No better evidence is needed that the federal government feels vulnerable to attacks than the choking presence of road blocks, checkpoints, no-go areas and thousands of security personnel who have turned Abuja into quite possibly the most garrisoned city in the world. A foreign visitor who drives into Abuja will most likely want to go back straight to the airport for his return flight after a drive from the airport to his hotel. Nigeria’s perception of their own physical security declines every time checkpoints increase; or barriers go up; or patrol vehicles zoom past them with sirens blaring.

          In Kaduna State, people are living daily under high tension and actual violence. The problem between the communities in Jama’a Local Government, from which the State Governor comes, appears to have no solution; so every now and then the communities face off, houses, markets and other assets are burnt down, and lives lost. Security personnel are rushed into a small town with the potential to affect relations between communities far beyond Kaduna State. When Jama’a boils over, Jos catches fire. The reversed is also true. Jama’a is the key to peace in Kaduna state. Kaduna State is central to peace in Nigeria. So long as Kafanchan and Jos continue to burn, they will continue to threaten national security. Between the Boko Haram insurgency and the failure to deal with the security threats in Kafanchan, Zonkwa and environs  and Jos, all Nigerians are facing a serious threat to their security.

The assurances by the two Ministers of Defence and Information are not likely to give Nigerians more confidence that they will be safer. Indeed, what comes out of both comments is the disturbing conclusion that the administration has no clue, plans or strategies for dealing with the multi-facetted threat to our national security. Deployments of more troops and erection of checkpoints have been outstripped by the scale and audacity of the attacks from Boko Haram militants. So, clearly, they alone cannot give comfort. Unfortunately, this is all that can be said of the federal government’s strategy against Boko Haram. Reviews of reports of past instances of violence will merely confirm the uniqueness of the threat which Boko Haram poses. Government will not find anything of value there. Its own report written by the Galtimari Committee would have been useful, but a combination of bureaucratic lethargy and insufficient political will have made it virtually useless now.

Nigerians will not tolerate a situation in which insurgency gains more ground and confidence, and the government builds barricades around itself and throws more troops at it. There must be someone, somewhere, who should advise President Jonathan to take serious steps to deal with the Boko Haram insurgency and other threats in Kaduna and Plateau States. The President should be encouraged to reach out to the communities in Borno, Yobe and other parts of the north in a genuine dialogue to establish bridges and communication channels with the insurgents. There are people who can help, but they are ignored or frightened. They are victims of the Boko Haram insurgency like all citizens, but they are also unutilised assets that can be of value to both the State and the insurgents. They must be traced and encouraged to serve a genuine and sincere search for a truce.

President Jonathan should also lean hard on State Governors to show sensitivity to the remote issues which appear to recur in the litany of grievances of the insurgents. State-religion relations, policies towards alleviating poverty, reducing corruption and official high-handedness by government and security agents need to be addressed. The silence of especially northern governors over possible solutions to this widening conflict should not be tolerated. The governors have both power and responsibility to address much of the grievances of the insurgents, and they should be made to be part of finding solutions. The endemic crises in Jos and Kaduna State cannot be allowed to continue to fester. If the governors of the two States are incapable of dealing with these problems, the federal government should engage them constructively and decisively to find solutions. Plateau and Kaduna States represent major sources of threat to our national security; so much so that they cannot be left entirely to their governors alone to handle.

Our security situation is deteriorating rapidly, and there does not appear to be the will and the capacity to address this dangerous slide. Security threats are dealt with as soon as they manifest, and in a manner guaranteed to eliminate them. Ignoring threats makes them more threatening. Applying the wrong responses could compound the threat, and further erode the State’s capacity to adopt other responses. President Jonathan should know that insecurity of our lives represents a major concern for all Nigerians. Their biggest concern, however, is whether he will do more than he is doing about it.