How sabotage and corruption fuel Nigeria’s insecurity

Dire Situation

Nigeria’s constitution in Section 14 (2) (b) says that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. On these two counts, Nigerian government, at all levels, has failed the citizen. People are now afraid of their shadows. We can no longer sleep with eyes close, even as we now live in a fortress, having to build high perimeter fence around our homes. Road travel is now a trembling exercise. Cybercrimes have made many citizens to withdraw from social media, electronic banking and e-commerce. Farming is now a dangerous exercise, not with killer herders on the prowl while government spokespersons are now adept at issuing condolences and sympathies.

Heart-rending statistics

What does the statistics say about Nigeria? The statistics are preposterous! On Wednesday, July 31, 2019, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon said an estimated 27,000 Nigerians died between 2009 and 2019 in the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe. He disclosed this during the commemoration of the tenth ‘anniversary’ of Boko Haram crisis.

In its 2018 Global Terrorism Index covering from December 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018, the ICC put Nigeria as the third most terrorised country in the world for the fourth consecutive time. The country is just above Iraq and Afghanistan which retained their first and second positions respectively. It attributed the country’s position on the list to the increase in violence involving herder extremists and thousands of deaths committed by the deadly terrorist group, Boko Haram.

Amnesty International in its December 2018 report claimed that 3,641 lives had been lost to farmers’ headers crisis between 2016 – 2018. The December 17, 2018 report stated that “The Nigerian authorities’ failure to investigate communal clashes and bring perpetrators to justice has fuelled a bloody escalation in the conflict between farmers and herders across the country, resulting in at least 3,641 deaths in the past three years and the displacement of thousands more”. In a report, “Harvest of Death: Three Years of Bloody Clashes between Farmers and Herders”, Amnesty International found that 57 per cent of the 3,641 recorded deaths occurred in 2018.

Incidence of kidnaping in Nigeria is now at industrial scale. The Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Adamu, said that 1,071 persons lost their lives in crime-related cases across the country in the first quarter of 2019. The IGP made this known during the quarterly Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council meeting held on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 in Kaduna. Adamu said the crime statistics showed that between January and April, at least 685 persons were kidnapped across the country.  

Among the high profile persons that have been kidnapped in the past include the Chairman of Universal Basic Education Commission, Dr. Muhammad Abubakar  and his daughter who were kidnapped on April 29, 2019; in December 2012, Kamene Okonjo, a retired professor  and  mother of Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance Professor Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was kidnapped in Delta State; in September 2016,  the wife of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Margaret Emefiele, was one of about six people abducted by gunmen; in October 2012, Rivers  state Commissioner for Power, Mr. Augustine Nwokocha  was abducted; in March 2011, Mrs Omofemiwa Ramat Ibrahim, 68, mother of billionaire businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim was abducted in Ondo State.

Furthermore, in September 2015, Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance and Secretary to the  Federal Government, Chief Olu Falae was kidnapped in Akure Ondo State by suspected herdsmen. In October 2016, former Minister of Environment, Mrs Laurentia Mallam and her husband, Mr Pius were abducted on Abuja – Kaduna highway. In June 2019, the son of the former Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, Dayo Adewole, was kidnapped by unknown gunmen on his farm in Oyo State. These are just to mention but a few. This is also excluding the hundreds of students abducted in Chibok in 2014, Dapchi in 2018 as well as in Igbonla, Epe area of Lagos state.

Even Nigeria’s elections have been recording high incidences of violence. According to the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, an estimated 626 persons were killed across Nigeria in the six months between the start of the election campaign and the commencement of the general and supplementary elections. The electioneering campaigns began in October 2018 while the last of the elections were held in March. The Coalition observer group disclosed this on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 at the release of its final report on the 2019 general election in Abuja. The group said the number increased compared to the 106 killed in the 2015 general election. 

Negative Impacts of Insecurity

Among several other unpleasant consequences are:  high number of internally displaced persons, food insecurity, brain drain (emigration), divestment, increased number of Persons with Disabilities, premature deaths, self-imposed curfew and general climate of fear.

Dissecting causative factors and solutions

The nightmarish state of insecurity have led to the holding of several security summits at state, regional and federal levels, National Assembly resolutions, passage of some legislations aimed at tightening security, declaration of State of Emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) states as well as demand for nationwide state of emergency by eminent Nigerians such as the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka.   Not a few is calling for the establishment of state police and the retooling of extant community policing system of the Police. Other suggestions that have been made by prominent Nigerians is the need to combat unemployment and poverty, integration of technology in crime prevention and crime fighting, better coordination among the security agencies   and the need to effectively police Nigeria’s over 1,400 unmanned international border posts.

Aside all these, many Nigerians including myself have been calling for better funding of the country’s security sector. However, concerns have also been raised that there have not been value for monies already expended on this menace and that some military and security top brass have taken insecurity as their honeypot that should not break. There is no gainsaying that corruption is plaguing the success of Nigeria’s fight against insecurity.  It will be recalled that despite billions of Dollars (Trillions of Naira) extra budgetary spending in the fight against insurgency and general insecurity, only modest achievements have been recorded with no end in sights as to when the country will overcome these security challenges. A good case in point is the $2.1bn ‘Dasukigate’ of 2015 where many top military men including the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambi Dasuki were fingered in the corruption scandal.

Is it not flabbergasting that some governors are fuelling insecurity in their states in order to justify or even increase their security votes? The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, on Wednesday, May 1, 2019 hit at state governors, saying that some of are  deliberately stoking insecurity in their states just to collect more money as security vote. Magu also alleged that there was a link between corruption, banditry and terrorism. He spoke in Abuja at the induction programme for returning and newly-elected state governors held at the Presidential Villa.

In a Tuesday, April 9, 2019 press release by the immediate past Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, he said that some highly placed traditional rulers in restive communities’ aid bandits to perpetuate criminal activities. Excerpt from his press release issued by his Public Relations Officer, Col. Tukur Gusau, read in part that “Recently, the government acted on the advice of the Ministry of Defence to suspend all mining activities in Zamfara State and environs following intelligence report that suggested close collaboration between the activities of the bandits and illegal miners. “However, in spite of the concerted efforts of the armed forces and other security agencies, some unpatriotic persons, including highly placed traditional rulers in the areas, were identified as helping the bandits with intelligence to perpetuate their nefarious actions or to compromise military operations.

As attestation to this, early this month, Zamfara State Government removed the suspended Emir of Maru, Alhaji Abubakar Cika Ibrahim and the district head of Kanoma, Alhaji Ahmed Kanoma from office. The two monarchs, who were initially suspended for allegedly being part of bandits in their respective domains were sacked following the outcome of investigative panel set up by the state government to look into banditry allegations leveled against them.

Also recently, the Nigerian Army began the quizzing of its former General Officer Commanding the 8 Division, Sokoto State, Maj. Gen. Hakeem Otiki, following the N400m said to have been stolen by escort soldiers in the division. Five soldiers had been confirmed to have stolen the money while on an escort duty from Sokoto to Kaduna states in the first week of July 2019. The former GOC had reportedly asked the soldiers to escort the money and deliver it to a Very Important Personality in Kaduna. The army’s spokesman in 8 Division, Lieutenant Audu Arigu, had confirmed the incident, saying investigation had commenced, and had identified the runaway soldiers as Corporal Gabriel Oluwaniyi, Corporal Mohammed Aminu, one Corporal Haruna, Oluji Joshua and Hayatudeen. Army sources said on Sunday, July 21, 2019 that the runaway soldiers turned in their rifles and abandoned their mobile phones at the Infantry Corps in Jaji, Kaduna State, before they escaped.

In November 2008, a ten-man military court martial headed by Brig-Gen. Bala Usara, in Kaduna, sentenced Major Sulaiman Alabi Akubo and five other soldiers to life imprisonment for illegally selling arms worth over N100 million to Niger Delta militants. Other soldiers who shared Akubo's fate in the deal that involved over 7000 arms of various descriptions are Sergeant Matthias Peters, Lance Corporal Alexander Davou, Lance Corporal Moses Nwaigwe, Lance Corporal Nnamdi Anene and Private Caleb Bawa.

In September 2016, Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor, the then theater commander in northeastern Nigeria, said some officers are selling arms and ammunition to Boko Haram.  Nigerian army said a military tribunal tried 16 officers and troops accused of offences related to the fight against Boko Haram, including the theft and sale of ammunition. More recently, Hamisu Wadume, a kidnap kingpin who was initially arrested on August 6, 2019 in Ibi Town in Taraba State but was later aided to escape only to be rearrested last week claimed that he had maintained a close relationship with military and law enforcement authorities in Taraba State for a long time. He said it was an Army captain, Tijani Balarabe, as well as a police division crime officer who aided and abetted his escape. .

Final words

I am of the considered view that unless and until the fifth columnist in the nation’s security sectors are fished out and prosecuted, the spate of insecurity in the country may not abate as some highly placed people have seen it as goldmine. Even those who are in legitimate business of providing uniform security guards for homes and offices as well as sales of security gadgets will not want deplorable situation to improve so that their booming business will continue to flourish. I do hope the newly sworn in ministers of Defence, Police Affairs, and Interior as well as the National Security Adviser will be able to rejig the security architecture of this country for greater efficiency.

Jide is a Development Consultant, Author and Public Affairs Analyst