Maj-Gen IBM Haruna (rtd) yesterday advised the Federal Government to reject calls to engage foreign mercenaries to assist government forces in tackling the country’s security challenges. Also, the civil war veteran insists that the 1999 Constitution is not solely responsible for Nigeria’s multiple problems.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday, Haruna, a member of the 1994 National Constitutional Conference Commission, said rather than engaging the services of foreign mercenaries to tackle insurgency, banditry and other criminalities plaguing Nigeria, more security personnel should be recruited.

The former Federal Commissioner for Information and Culture urged all levels of government to implement programmes that would enhance citizens’ welfare as a means of tackling insecurity. The octogenarian said: “The welfare and security of the people, as stated in our Constitution, is the primary purpose of the government.

“There is no government, even the powerful ones, America, China, Europe, and so on, that is not faced with insecurity. “Our level of insecurity is not really strategic. It is domestic. It is like peace-keeping and enforcing law and order.” He added: “Security is a continuous challenge, no matter your strategic position as a nation or your progress in finding a stable democracy.

“They must go together with the welfare, the economy, the upbringing of the youths in the present term, in the middle term, and in the long term, as well as the preservation of the sovereignty of the state.” Asked whether the military was doing enough to address insecurity, Haruna said without addressing the root causes of insecurity through social development and unity, the military’s efforts alone would not be sufficient.

Asked whether he was in support of the calls for retired military officers to assist in combating insecurity, Haruna, who turns 85 on Thursday, dismissed such an idea. “Nigeria is not short of military officers or people with the intelligence and the ability to apply modern warfare techniques,” he said. Haruna said that the problems confronting the country were not necessarily created by the Constitution “enacted or decreed in 1999”.