A security expert with international experience, Mr Abiodun Ladepo, tellshow Nigeria should deal with its security challenges in the face of Boko Haram and ISWAP resurgence, kidnappings, and othersser
ved in various US formations in Afghanistan, Ghana and Europe, what other experiences have you had?
The displacement of the terrorists is, of course, a huge factor in their resurgence in Nigeria and other permissive countries like Niger and Chad. I use the word ‘permissive’ because Nigeria is just as vulnerable as other West African countries, but those countries do not give comfort to terrorists. The terrorists may transit through those countries, but they rarely settle down there.
Only in the general sense that if our country had been better secured, it would have been more difficult to carry out such a crime. Listen, terrorists can strike at any time in any part of the world. They struck in America with devastating effects on September 11, 2001. Homegrown terrorists strike in the US almost every month. Terrorists strike in the UK and the rest of Europe. If they are motivated enough, terrorists will strike anywhere.
What should the Buhari regime and its security agencies be doing to tackle terrorism and insurgency in the country? Beyond terrorism and insurgency, Nigeria also has serious problem with banditry, kidnapping, Fulani herdsmen attacks and others, what do you suggest should be done? I can tell you though that Amotekun, or any such regional or state-run security outfit can only be good for the country. Nigeria is grossly under-policed! What with nearly 10 per cent of our police force detailed to protect VIPs! We need to hire more federal police if we can’t, like they say, have state police. I am an advocate of state police and community policing. When done properly, it is most effective.
Is it a pensionable job? Will it be an admixture of full-time and part-time employees? Can the states afford to add so many people to their payroll and pension roster? What’s the training like? What’s the training cycle? Will they wear uniform? Will the operatives be limited to just those vehicles we all saw, or will they have other means of transportation like motorcycles and bicycles? These are some of the things that need to be spelt out in the SOP; and the SOP must be a living document,...
Now, I know state police is fraught with its own issues, especially peculiar to our nature in Nigeria, chief of which is its susceptibility to abuse by governors and others. But we can build some checks and balances into it – things like the governor being able to appoint police chiefs but not being able to sack them, leaving that to a certain percentage of the legislature. And there are more things we can do to make state police strong and enduring.
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