By William Ernest Etim-Bassey
SIR: Nigeria’s history is replete with a catalogue of missed opportunities and outright mistakes with our survival as a nation boiling down to the small matter of divine providence! Today, directly resulting from the federal government’s inability to provide basic human security, states in the Southwest have come up with a solution – Amotekun.
Almost lost in the euphoria celebrating its launch and the ensuing confusion surrounding its legality is the fact that Amotekun is one of the few great initiatives of an otherwise forgettable 2019 that started with possibly well-intended promises by the president but ended with the usual thud.
With rising inflation, flailing security institutions, a noticeable lowering of the quality of life and standard of living of Nigerians due to a combination of global economic failings and half baked polices, the result is a frightful breakdown of law and order in many parts of the federation.
Oblivious to the fact that resolving our security challenges perhaps requires a shift in thinking alongside a grand strategy that clearly defines the type of peace and security sought for our people, our only consolation is that the Southwest has found a bold solution to its security problems in Amotekun.
Is the government unaware that ungovernance prevails in large swaths of the country? Or that our security institutions are overstretched and underfunded with poorly equipped, ill-trained and ill-motivated personnel despite best intentions over the years.
Who created the dilemma (Amotekun)? The governors of the Southwest states or the federal government through inaction?
In my opinion, managing this fault line now requires a come clean from the presidency.
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Firstly, by acknowledging the utter failure, in clear terms, of its much-publicized National Defence/Security strategy document released in 2019 while figuring out a way to incorporate the concept, Amotekun, into our currently inflexible National Defense/Security strategy because of the brittleness exhibited by our security agencies in crime fighting.
With the presidency unable to decisively lean on its 2019 strategy document, evaluate its own options and proffer solution sets to counter the initiators of Amotekun, this viable self-help option is here to stay. Not only because it has been institutionalized, but because it has actually been operationalized.
Now any right thinking policy maker should consider Amotekun complementary to the government’s security aspirations. Because it will lead to accountable hands-on management by those directly under threat, within a regulatable framework, applying unified and standardized policies on funding, inter-agency cooperation, tactics, legislation, procurement, Command & Control and Rules of Engagement (ROE).
The presidency has adopted a hawkish stance to the concept of Amotekun yet without a plan to address the main reasons why the solution has become an uncomfortable reality. Yet one has to appreciate the government’s dilemma in the context of constitutionality.
Additionally, there is a real fear factor in allowing Amotekun become a viable model because it takes away from the centre, by suggesting the centre is incapable of securing the people while the unresolved issue of “state police” looms large; oh, there is the small matter of the social contract between a government and its people!
Nevertheless, in the realm of necessity, the reality remains that something positive has finally happened and one cannot blame the initiators of Amotekun for being proactive!
- William Ernest Etim-Bassey,
Calabar.
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