Heads of the nation’s security outfit led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, on Tuesday, November 21, appeared before the House of Representatives, with a bag of challenges militating against the nation’s security.
Those who spoke at the sectoral debate organised by the House of Representatives were the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
The CDS who summerised the presentations of the service chiefs and the IGP lamented the increased unfavourable environment they security forces operates in and the fact that more often, persons arrested are released by the courts without proper trial.
He also spoke about the activities of Finland based Simon Ekpa whom he said has been operating under the protection of the Finish government, adding that the Nigerian government should engage in diplomatic moves to address the situation.
He alluded to the fact that Ekpa was being protected by the government of Finland.
The CDS said: “We don’t produce what we need in Nigeria and if you do not produce what you need, that means you are at the beck and call of the people that produce these items. All the items we procure are bought with hard currency, none in naira. Most times when funds the released, by the time you turn these funds into dollars, it can only get us very little.
“For example, during the last regime, about N1 billion was set aside for defence procurements. Out of that amount, over 600 million dollars was for the procurement of the aircraft. So the whole money had gone.
“For any ammunition, we buy them in dollars and we spend in millions. So many times, when people see, that funds being released to the armed forces, they think it is so much but by the time you convert them to dollars, you do not get so much.
“One precision missile for our drone costs 85,000 dollars. So, imagine how many we would be able to use and how many we can procure. So those are the challenges. Leveraging emerging military technologies in terms of artificial intelligence, robotics and others, we need to be exploited by the armed forces of Nigeria.
“Similarly, there is a need to exploit the contemporary global shift in the utilisation of space technology and cyber warfare for national defence and security. So far, we have initiated the process of establishing a joint cyber warfare intelligence command where such emerging technologies will be exploited to enhance the capabilities of the armed forces of Nigeria”.
The CDS said further that security is not only the responsibility of security forces, stressing that: everybody has a role to play, saying “we cannot be everywhere. We need education and sensitisation programmes to educate Nigerians that security is everybody’s responsibility. If you see it you talk about it. You just don’t keep quiet and say it is for the police. Everybody has a role.
“In Our neighbouring countries if you enter there as a visitor, I give you 30 minutes they would know you are a visitor. Before you know it the gerdarmes are after you. There it is different. People tend to think it is not their responsibility. We are not magicians. We need to have a system where we train from schools, let every Nigerian understand that they should take ownership of security.
“We have realized that the magic wand to address insecurity is good governance. Anywhere you have good governance insecurity goes down. The security forces can only produce 30 percent. We can only provide an enabling environment.
“If other aspects are not addressed it, is a problem. Security is not just military security. We have food security, health security, social security, and education security. All these play vital roles in achieving what we are doing. If we do not put these things in place through good governance, it becomes a problem.
“People can’t eat. People are hungry. No matter how you tell them to keep the peace, they will not because they have to eat and it aids criminality. So those are the aspects we are looking at that we must have good governance and everybody has belief in the country that this is their country.
“The issue of judicially, I have been in the northeast. There were a lot of Boko Haram elements that were captured and kept. We have kept them for five or six years. We in the armed forces cannot prosecute. We can only provide protection for them. Some of them have been found to be wanting but no prosecution. Keeping them for this lengthy period, everybody is accusing the armed forces of keeping them against their human rights but we cannot prosecute. That is one aspect.
“Another aspect of the judiciary is this, you do all your efforts, you make an arrest, you hand over, but before you enter your vehicle, the man has been released. Now you have risked yourself in doing that. By the time he is released, he goes to tell the people who you are or family members and you are at risk.
“So, it gets to a stage where the security forces are not even willing to do anything because when they make an arrest before you know it the person is released. That is one area we need to look into. We must have special courts that can handle these things.
“In the Northeast when we were debriefing some of the Book Haram elements, some were telling us how from the prisons, they could plan operations on the field. They pass funds across and we asked how. They use some of the warders.
“We are not saying all of them are bad, but they use some of the warders’ accounts to transfer money and the deal is that, anybody’s account the money is transferred to, they share it 50:50. Those are the challenges and if you see where we have the Correctional facilities, they have been occupied.
“Now, one basic issue we are looking at is the issue of the southeast. Simon Ekpa. This individual has become a menace to this country. The country must act on it diplomatically. Finland is having a freeway encouraging him to do what he is doing.
“By his utterances and actions, he is affecting what is happening in Nigeria. We should never allow that. Our foreign service needs to step in to address the issue. It is either we invite the ambassador or somebody. They must explain why they are protecting him. And he is doing us more harm by his utterances. A lot of people are being killed. We cannot sit back and keep quiet”.
Nigerians expect magic from an I’ll motivated police force, says IGP
Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun said he inherited a police force that was virtually bartered and has suffered serious neglect over the years with I’ll motivated and ill-equipped personnel.
The IGP who spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives while participating in the sectoral debate said despite the lack of motivation and operational facilities, Nigerians will not accept any excuse for failure but expect adequate performance from them.
He said police personnel were operating in a very difficult environment as a result of the neglect they have suffered over the years, especially in the area of inadequate manpower and operational facilities.
He said the police has almost 6000 divisional police headquarters across the country with each requiring a minimum of four operational vehicles, adding that while some have operational vehicles, many of such stations cannot boost a single operational vehicle.
He said while the United Nations recommendation is for one police to about 40 persons, the Nigerian police can only boost 1000 persons to one policeman which is grossly inadequate, adding that the criminals in the country are aware of the handicap of the police force.
He said: “Unfortunately, the citizens are not interested in any excuse for lack of performance by the police. They want us to perform and protect them and we are ready to do that. But we need your support.
We need a well-motivated, well-educated, trained and inspired workforce. In spite of the challenges we have, we are doing our best. But there is no adequate funding because no agency can perform above available resources.
He said the Police have made several arrests, while some of those arrested are being prosecuted, but was quick to add that arrest alone cannot end acts of criminalities.
He said: “No amount of arrest will stop criminalities. You arrest 100 today and by tomorrow, 200 are emerging. What we need is interagency collaboration”.
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar said one of the major challenges facing the service in its operation is the astronomic rise in the price of aviation fuel and the introduction of surcharges which he said has adversely affected their air operations, considering its large fleet.
He said the situation has continued to worsen with the cost of Jet A-1 fluctuating at N1,150 per litre as against the budgeted N360 per litre while stressing the need for an intervention fund to the Nigerian Air Force as an independent importer of Jet A-1 fuel to sustain air operations while reducing the financial burden on the Government, may thus suffice.
He also spoke of the consistent delay in budget funding which he said is a significant challenge bearing in mind that about 85 per cent of the Nigerian Air Force capital budget is for procuring military hardware abroad.
He said: “Since hardware by Original Equipment Manufacturers is time-bound, delay in budget funding may lead to late delivery due to late payment. Timely disbursement of approved funds would surely solve this challenge.
“The contemporary operating environment is characterised by terrorists who situate themselves with the general populace which makes targeting complex in view of the need to avoid collateral damage. Thus, the Nigerian Air Force’s kinetic operations are supported by credible intelligence to minimize undesired casualties.
“The country’s land borders, including those with Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Togo, spanning about 4,000km, are mostly insecure and poorly manned. These porous borders exacerbate arms proliferation and illegal movement of people and goods, which contribute to the problem of insecurity and further enable insurgents to operate freely”.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja said despite the challenges facing of operation, the Nigerian Army was doing its best to tackle insurgency in the country and has achieved a great deal of stability in the North East.
He said the Army was expanding its frontier to facilitate stability in the country, pointing out that while the insecurity problem in the northwest started on a low level with cattle rustling, it gradually increased to kidnapping of groups of people.
He said further that the insecurity in the north central is more communal based, hence the Army had to rely on traditional rulers and religious leaders to tackle the challenge.
He said one of the major challenges was the style of operation by the insurgents through the use of IEDs, saying “you see them using an IED prepared with not more than N20,000 destroying a tank bought with millions of naira”.
The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmaneul Ogalla said prior to 2022, Nigeria was listed as one of the major targets for piracy attack, adding that at the moment, the country has been delisted from the list of countries prone to terror attack.
He also said that as a result of the operation of the Navy in the Niger Delta region, there has been an increase in oil production, hitting about 1.7 million barrel per day, adding that the target given to them by the President is to increase oil production to 2 million barrel per day.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen said the House made a conscious decision to commence the Sectoral Debates with the security Sector given that it is prioritized in our Legislative Agenda.
He said Section 14(2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as altered) declares that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. In this declaration, the security and welfare of the people are conjunctively presented as a sole purpose.
He said the session with the heads of security agencies is an important opportunity to brief the House on the progress made so far and other lingering challenges.
The Speaker said it was compulsory for all invited heads of MDAs to appear before the House in person, adding that the “House shall not accept proxy representation for any reason whatsoever. Notices are sent well in advance to forestall any excuses”.
