…PROVIDING A FRAMEWORK FOR NIGERIA’S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT VIA ADEQUATE SECURITY BY OMOGBOLAHAN L.A. BABAWALE
PREAMBLES
The primary business of governance of the leadership of every sovereign nation is the security of her people and territorial integrity. No matter how lofty or beautiful a development roadmap of any nation is, its fortuity or fruition cannot be guaranteed in an unsecured atmosphere. In other words, security is the pivot upon which development rotates and is entrenched. It is the very reason developed nations across the globe annually vote a chunk of their yearly budget to security. The United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Israel, China, India, North Korea, Japan, Norway among other developed nations.
To the extent of which the provisos of a sovereign nation provide, the country shall formulate, enact and provide laws and orders that ensure that its entire territorial coverage is protected against any external aggression and/or possible attacks. Nigeria in the context of this piece therefore will therefore explore and exploit all constitutional provisions that will protect her entire citizenry and country against any or all assailable or vulnerable exposure to attacks or aggression.
INTRODUCTION
Securing the Nigerian nation not only against external aggression but also against internal strife, uprising and/or insecurity, is it achievable in the midst of obvious extreme poverty and hunger as well as high rate of illiteracy? The country has hardly had much progress in the last 3 decades combating extreme poverty and hunger. A 2016 report by Oleribe & Taylor-Robinson indicated that 69% of the populace live in abject poverty while the gap between the rich and the poor continues unabatedly to widen, eight out of every ten Nigerian is said to be extremely poor. The 2015 United Nations report put nearly 60% of the world’s 1billion extremely poor people lived in just five (5) countries that include India, Nigeria, China, Bangladesh and DR Congo.
Development thrives in a country where people are not only secured but also have basic education to drive such development. How much of the Nigeria population have basic education that will drive her developmental roadmap? What laws adaptable from other developed economy (ies) of the world are suitable for the Nigerian nation? Can the ubiquitous insecurity be adequately tamed and contained? Can the Federal Government develop an omnibus template that will address, frontally, the myriads of security bottlenecks across the country? A divan look at the United States of America Government approach to her security may be a prototype for Nigeria to adopt for internal consumption. More so that Nigeria’s democracy is modelled after the United States’.
A NEW SECURITY ARCHITECTURE FOR NIGERIA: THE AMERICAN MODEL
In today’s Nigeria, is the space unpredictable? Is it turbulent? Is it volatile or complex? The answers to these questions are not far-fetched. It is same as the world experiences at the moment. Uncertainty permeates the global space. Akin to the hellacious and war-prone economy that the former POTUS, Barack Obama inherited – two counter-insurgency wars, a global financial crisis, and an economic recession, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidency inherited a not-too-dissimilar scenario today. A presidency against a backdrop of dwindling economic fortunes with hyper-inflation and hydra-headed security imbroglio.
Expectedly, in the three months and two days between the Nigeria presidential election on February 25th and Inauguration Day on May 29th, transition teams between agencies of the former government and representatives of the incumbent government undertook the arduous task of reviewing various government policies, outlining prospective personnel changes, and identifying policy and structural changes the next president should make once the (now) President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR would be arriving the Aso Villa office. Traditionally, the transition teams focus more on policy than process.
From the foregoing, it is important that the new administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR review all policies on the security roadmap with a mindset of redirecting and re-working the entire architecture to make it more optimally functional and result-driven. Failure of this is tantamount to doing same thing the old way and expecting a different result. The status quo will naturally remain. It will only amount to deploying the same analogue of the post-independence era to tackle a technology-driven security challenges with its ever-dynamic camouflage. The bandwidth of such system is too limited to cope with today’s wide range of challenges. Kudos to the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun for his initiative on addressing the recent upsurge in kidnapping in te Seat of Power – the Federal Capital Territory. His spontaneous response has shown his choice by Mr. President was not a mistake after all.
Mr. President had held a couple of Security Council Meeting (SCM) with the Service Chiefs. It is expected that during these meetings, the incontrovertible fact that our current National Security Council (NSC) system simply cannot cope with the vast array of national security – state and otherwise challenges that the Nigerian nation faces today. This is notwithstanding its concomitant economic negativity. The current centralized structure of a hierarchy of interagency commitment to the country’s peculiar security challenges is no doubt moribund and antiquated. The country’s Security Council itself, is basically unchanged from what has been obtained since independence in the 1960s.
In what appears to be an adage in the United States, “the president gets the NSC that he or she deserves.” It can be said here, in the Nigerian context that the office is the make of the occupier – in this case, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. As an opinion, “getting it right” in the case of personnel for the country’s security paraphernalia and organizing same hint at a seemingly one of the more difficult endeavors that Mr. President may encounter, particularly considering the heterogenous composition of the country and her plurality. However, whatever the degree of difficulty, an upfront investment in effective organizational dynamics will pay dividends, particularly if addressed at an early stage – the outset of a possible 8-year tenure all other things being equal.
RE-THINKING THE NIGERIA NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHITECTURE, LESSONS FROM THE UNITED STATES TEMPLATE
Over the decades, there has been endless clamour by ethnic nationalities on the need to decentralize the country’s policing to be able to combat squarely the many security challenges bedeviling the country. There had been several calls for state policing which has, in recent times, been more pronounced by various groups, opinion leaders and on several national discourse. A United States template where municipals, communities, states all have their own policing has always been the reference point, more so that the country’s democracy is modeled after that of the United States. But for the fear of abuse, Nigeria by now should have been operating her state policing. The fear of political office holders abusing such privilege and using same as a tool to witch-hunt their perceived political foes especially when a side is in power is a point.
But then, it has been argued overtime too that the country cannot continue to hide under the ‘fear’ of abuse by political player, yet continue to run the security architecture on a 20th Century template in the ever-changing world. Innovation, it is said is the mother of invention. The effort to ensure the foundational protection of Nigerian state is that which requires dynamism in our approach to solving human challenges that face us as a country and a people at every point in time. Hence, the urgent need re-work the entire security architecture without further delay.
THE DYNAMISM OF NIGERIA’S SECURITY BOTTLENECKS
Our security challenges require a careful but methodical approach to solving same. Today, the Nigerian forests are fast becoming no-go areas with a devastating effect on the agriculture value chain. Its North Eastern flank threatened by insurgency. The North West challenged by armed banditry, cattle rustling and kidnapping while the North Central is not too different from its North West counterpart. The South battling kidnapping and no less farmers/herders clash, the latter which has become perennial. Therefore, a holistic approach to solving these quagmires in their various forms is fundamentally germane.
Every nation adopts what works for them, Nigeria inclusive. The country must from this moment develop a blueprint that addresses, holistically, her entire security network and its paraphernalia. Adopting the United States template must be done to suit its domestication internally. The United States, developed, operates in a different clime with different dynamism while Nigeria, a developing country has her peculiarities. The roadmap from the United States is not entirely on its own without its pitfalls. The fact remains that the country has survived for more than two centuries albeit with her own internal security challenges. Nigeria must rise from this security doldrum and forge a better and workable path.
THE DERIVATES
Derivable from the United States security architecture, Nigeria can develop a model around having the below as part of its security roadmap;
• Neighbourhood Safety Corps
• State Police Force
• Community Policing
• Forests Guards
All of the above in their isolated consideration has its enormous benefits in improving the security apparatus on the country. It is also very important that the new approach to solving Nigeria’s challenges today must be technology-driven failure of which is tantamount to keeping the rigmarole.
CONCLUSION
As the world continues to transform from the manufacturing economy of the industrial age to the digital economy of the information age, Nigeria’s security architecture needs to transform as well. This has been evident since at least 1999, when the country returned fully to democratic rule (which has endured now for more than two decades) from military interregnum that held her down for more than four (4) decades.
The security infrastructure must, from thenceforth be refined, re-worked and perfected for a more enduring and progressive economy. It must be stressed yet again that there can NEVER be even development in a country where security is a big threat – to lives and business.
OMOGBOLAHAN L.A. BABAWALE
Convener/National Coordinator
The Think-Tinubu Initiative (3TI)
officialczar2@gmail.com