The nexus between corruption and insecurity

Security and welfare of citizens are the primary reasons for governance, so says Section 14 (2) (b) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, as amended. Truth be told, despite assurances and reassurances by the President and the security chiefs that they are on top of the situation, they are indeed nowhere near the apex. Every day, the media is awash with news of abduction, banditry, insurgency, rape, ethno-religious conflicts, and all manner of vices. It would seem that peace, law and order have taken flight from Nigeria leaving us in the Hobbesian state of nature where life is short, brutish and nasty.

The security situation is so dire that many Nigerians are calling for the resignation of the President, the dismissal of the heads of the security agencies, the retooling of our security architecture, establishment of regional policing system such as the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Operation Amotekun, state police, community policing, as well as making sundry suggestions on how to address and redress the appalling insecurity in the country.

As far as I am concerned, no elected leader worth his salt will throw in the towel and resign in the midst of national emergency that this insecurity has plunged the country. Yes, I am all for the resignation or dismissal of the service chiefs from the Chief of Defence Staff, to the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Chief of Navy Staff and even the National Security Adviser. If they do have any sense of propriety, they should go as the country has practically become ungovernable under their watch. However, their dismissal or resignation, desirable as it is, will not bring succour to the worsening security situation in the nation.

There is a need for audit of the factors responsible for the downward slide in the security of the country. There are several established factors responsible for exponential increase in the crimes and criminality ongoing in the country. Among them are high rate of unemployment and poverty. There are also our porous borders which make it easy for smuggling of small arms and light weapons. Equally is the expansionist agenda of the national and international terror groups such as Boko Haram, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, al Qaeda, al Shabab and many others. Lack of birth control leading to overpopulation has also been identified as a push factor as this is said to have accounted for increase in out-of-school children who grow to become societal terrors. However, a key trigger and driver of insecurity is corruption.

There is no gainsaying that corruption fuels social inequality and injustice. When funds and other resources meant to provide social infrastructure are diverted to private pockets, the ordinary people are the more affected as they continue to lack amenities that should have enhanced their self-actualisation. So, when resources meant for the provision of educational and health facilities are stolen by corrupt government officials, people are denied opportunity to train and live as responsible members of society. With trillions of naira spent on electricity not yielding any significant positive results, people are unable to set up micro, small and medium enterprises that would have made them self-employed and turned them to employers of labour.

That is on the one hand. On the other hand, and quite saddening too, we have also had issues of endemic corruption within our security services. On March 26, 2019, a report entitled, “Nigeria: Corruption Perception Survey” released by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project observed high levels of corruption in public institutions in Nigeria for the past five years. Of the five major public institutions surveyed, the police emerged as the most corrupt, with the power sector identified as the second most corrupt in the country. Other public institutions identified as corrupt by 70 per cent of the Nigerians surveyed are the judiciary, education and health ministries. According to the survey, “a bribe is paid in 54 per cent of interactions with the police. In fact, there is a 63 per cent probability that an average Nigerian would be asked to pay a bribe each time he or she interacted with the police. That is almost two out of three.”

While corruption in Nigeria Police has become a norm of sorts with even a former Inspector-General of Police jailed for corruption, this cankerworm has also spread to other security services. Early last month, a visibly angry Borno State governor, Prof.  Babagana Zulum, accused security personnel of the Nigerian military and police of collecting bribes of N1,000 from travellers who do not have national identity cards.

The alleged mismanagement of the $2.1bn security funds meant to purchase military hardware to fight insurgency led to the sack, arrest and ongoing prosecution of former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.). Recall that Dasuki in what has been tagged #Dasukigate was accused of awarding phantom contracts to buy 12 helicopters, four fighter jets and ammunition. Some of the military top brass indicted in the fraudulent arms deal include former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, ex-Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosu, and 10 others.

Is it not shocking that eight soldiers in Kaduna way back in 2008 were found to have been selling arms and ammunition to Niger Delta militants? According to a news report, Major Suleiman Alabi Akubo and seven others entrusted with the responsibility of safe-keeping the military arms at the Command and Staff College Arms Depot, Jaji, and the One Base Army Ordnance, Kaduna were found guilty by a General Court Martial that sat in Kaduna to have stealthily sold those arms to River State-based Movement for the Defence of the Niger Delta. In September 2016, Major General Lucky Irabor, then the Theatre Commander in northeastern Nigeria, told a news conference that military authorities have confirmed that some soldiers were selling arms and ammunition to Boko Haram. Can you beat that? In September 2019, the Nigerian Army began the trial of the former General Officer Commanding, 8 Division, Sokoto State, Major General Hakeem Otiki, over the alleged diversion of the sum of N400 million by some soldiers in the division.

On May 1, 2019, the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, said some governors deliberately fuelled insecurity in their states just to collect more money as security vote. Is that not preposterous?

From the foregoing, it is obvious that this country is facing an uphill task of routing insecurity in as much as we have fifth columnists and saboteurs who because of filthy lucre will sell out to the country’s enemies. We are and will continue to be endangered in as much as the quality of life and living remains deplorable as more people will be pushed into vices all in a bid to survive. Thus, we are faced with daunting challenges of fighting corruption and improving the living standard of the citizens so that criminal gangs will cease to have a pool of willing hands to join in their nefarious activities.