FELIX NWANERI reports on rising insecurity across Nigeria, which poses a significant threat to the unity and development of the country and demand for change in approach by the Bola Tinubu administration in order to stem the tide

There is no doubt that government’s inability to come up with sustainable strategies to confront rising insecurity and violence across the country has continued to pose a big threat to the unity and development of Nigeria.

From the Boko Haram insurgency ravaging the NorthEast geopolitical zone to banditry and kidnapping in the NorthWest; farmers/herders clash in the North Central; militancy cum oil theft in the South-South and agitation for self-determination in the South-East, the picture about Nigeria is a nation at war with herself.

The Boko Haram insurgency, which is driven by Islamic extremists, has not only claimed thousands of lives and property worth billions of naira, it has equally turned millions of Nigerians to refugees in their own country. Across the country are camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Nigerian descent. The crisis has equally crippled economic activities in most north eastern states.

The immediate past Muhammadu Buhar-led administration had in 2015 proclaimed Boko Haram “technically defeated,” but most Nigerians described the declaration at that time as mere propaganda. That belief seems to have been justified as the insurgents have remained an ever-present threat.

T h e s i t u a t i o n , notwithstanding, credit must be given to the Buhari administration for the appreciable progress it made in the war against insurgency. Buhari did not only galvanize Nigeria’s neighbours and the global community against the insurgents, he kick-started the rebuilding of the troubled zone. However, the rebuilding effort has been at a huge cost.

The World Bank at a time announced a whopping sum of $800 million to support the Nigerian government in that regard. In the case of bandits ravaging the North-West; kidnapping for ransom and cattle rustling have become lucrative businesses for them. Activities of these outlaws have equally claimed several lives and impeded educational advancement of youths in the zone.

Similarly, ethnic tension has continued to rise over activities of killer herdsmen across the country. The herders/ farmers conflict, which has claimed thousands of lives, is mainly as a result of disputes over land resources between mostly Muslim Fulani herders and mainly Christian farmers.

Though the impact of the crisis has been more devastating in the North Central, the herders have also advanced towards the southern part of the country, thereby expanding the frontier. In the oil-rich but impoverished South-South; oil theft is the order of the day.

The failure of Tinubu’s security architecture has now become an endemic nationwide phenomenon with repeated killings, more of which do not even make the headlines

Several lives have been lost to it, while the environment has continued to suffer degradation. The South-East is not left out of crisis as separatist agitation by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other groups has not only grounded economic activities in the zone but also led to loss of lives and destruction of infrastructure.

While some of these security challenges date back to history, successive governments, particularly the immediate past Buhari administration, repeatedly allayed the fears of most Nigerians that they portend grave dangers to the country’s unity.

Under Buhari, the Federal maintained that it will not yield ground to those it termed “divisive elements.” No doubt his government restored relative peace to the troubled North-East, but other existential threats whittled the gains of the war against insurgency.

The myriads of security challenges prompted some stakeholders to call on Nigerians at a time to take up arms and defend themselves as the Federal Government seemed to have failed to perform its core function of protection of lives and property.

But justifiable as this proposal sound, some individuals, who warned against the dangers of such measure, recalled how several non-state actors emerged across the country in the name of protecting their respective zones from criminal elements but only for them to transform to self-determination groups.

Killings fester

While there is no doubt that Nigerians grappled with security challenges all through Buhari’s era, the situation seems to have assumed a worrisome dimension since the inception of the Bola Tinubu administration. President Tinubu is almost two years in office but seemingly emboldened criminal elements have upscale their attacks on citizens.

The states that are worst hit in the renewed killings are Plateau and Benue. The five states of the SouthEast are not left out as several lives have been lost due to the Mondays’ stay-at-home directive ordered by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The killings are despite the President’s promise in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, to “defend the nation from terror and all forms of criminality that threaten the peace and stability of our country.”

Recall that the President also pledged to effectively tackle the menace by reforming both the security doctrine and architecture.

While President Tinubu matched his words with action by appointing new service chiefs as well as a new Inspector General of Police (IGP) and a National Security Adviser (NSA) on June 19, 2023, and read the riot act during his first meeting with them on July 3, 2023, the security situation is yet to improve.

From the killing of over 200 people in Mangu, Plateau State, days after the President’s directive to the service chiefs to the recent killing of 16 hunters in Uromi, Edo State and more than 50 in Bokkos Local Government Area, also of Plateau State, there is no doubt that Nigeria has remained a killing field.

According to date released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in December last year, deaths recorded from May 2023 to April 2024, showed that 614,937 were killed in Nigeria from insecurity in one year.

A breakdown of the figures showed that banditry-ravaged North-West saw the highest with 206,030. It was followed by the North-East with 188,992, while the least was recorded in the South-West at 15,693. The NBS added that 2,235,954 Nigerians were kidnapped and a total of (N2.2 trillion) ($1.4 billion) was paid in ransom.

The urgency of now

It is against this backdrop that most citizens are of the view that the crisis at hand is a serious one that must be addressed with the speed of light. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who shared this view, not only criticised the security framework of the Tinubu-led administration, but described it as a failed system that has made killings across the country a recurring tragedy.

In a statement on Friday via X, Atiku said the security situation under Tinubu has become a “nationwide phenomenon,” with cases of killings becoming so frequent that many no longer make headlines.

“The failure of Bola Tinubu’s security architecture has now become an endemic nationwide phenomenon with repeated killings, more of which do not even make the headlines,” he said.

Atiku expressed concern that Nigerians are gradually becoming desensitised to reports of violence, particularly in communities such as Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, where fresh attacks have left many dead.

He therefore renewed his call for a complete overhaul of the country’s security structure, urging President Tinubu to act swiftly in reconfiguring the nation’s approach to security.

His words: “Nigerians are now being forced to get used to such news of wanton killings, and I again offer my condolences to the bereaved communities of Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State and the affected families. “I wish to restate my counsel to the Tinubu-led Federal Government to reconfigure its security architecture to meet the needs of protecting the lives and properties of our people.”

The 2023 presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, who also expressed deep concern over the recent spate of attacks in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, not only questioned the growing trend of violence across the country, but wondered why such killings have become normalised. He lamented a situation where several communities are thrown into mourning following the killing of entire families in what he described as “yet another senseless attack.”

Obi condemned the incident, which affected five communities in Bokkos – Mangor Tamiso, Daffo, Manguna, Hurti, and Tadai – saying the victims, including children and pregnant women, were buried in mass graves. His words: “I woke up this morning reading about yet another gory and deeply distressing report from Bokkos, Plateau State.

Entire families have again, been slaughtered in yet another senseless attack. Children and pregnant women were not spared. “How long will these killings, kidnapping, maiming and criminality continue in our nation that is not at war? How long must we wait to act decisively and focus on this drastic situation that is crippling our nation?

How many more must die before the government act for the people? “Communities like Bokkos in Plateau, Jato-Aka in Benue, Eha-Amufu in Enugu, Ufuma in Anambra, and Aba Oyinbo in Ondo deserve government protection. We must end this grief and terror, as this is becoming extremely unacceptable.” Obi called on the government and security agencies to take decisive action to stop the killings and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Stakeholders point way forward

As Nigerians continue to grapple with security challenges, some stakeholders, who spoke on the way out, called for establishment of state police, which according to them will ensure better security for citizens’ lives and property given that the Nigeria Police Force that is saddled with the responsibility of maintaining law and order have failed in its responsibility.

They posited that the nation’s security architecture, particularly the Nigeria Police Force, as presently structured, lack what it takes to effectively tackle the nation’s security challenges. Section 214 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which deals with operation, control, discipline and promotion in the police as well as Item 45 of the Exclusive Legislative List, Part 1 of the second schedule of the same constitution, provide that the Nigeria Police Force shall be under exclusive control of the Federal Government.

It states that “there shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section, no other police force shall be established for the federation or any part thereof.”

The constitution, also in section 215 (2) states that “the Nigeria Police Force shall be under the command of the Inspector-General of Police and any contingents of the Nigeria Police Force stationed in a state shall, subject to the authority of the Inspector-General of Police, be under the command of Commissioner of Police of that state.”

This provision, practically takes away the powers of governors, who are the chief security officers of their respective states, thereby making it difficult for them to take actions on security matters without approval from the Federal Government even in times of emergency.

Nigeria is too large for a central police command. The nation is large in terms of population and landmass, so the issue of state and community policing should be a priority

This, perhaps, explains why calls for restructuring of Nigeria, which has been in the front burner for some time, has establishment of state-controlled police as part of its demands.

Interestingly, President Tinubu, as governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, was in the vanguard of the clamour at that time for the Federal Government to review relevant sections of the constitution to allow states to establish and maintain their own police forces.

However, while some stakeholders are of the view that Nigeria is not yet ripe for state police as there are no guarantees that state the governors will not, like in the past, abuse the system, there is no doubt that this is at variance with what operates in most countries that practice the federal system of government. In the United States that Nigeria’s federal structure is fashioned after, there are several police agencies that exist separately.

While the state police take charge of highways and enforcement of state laws, cities have their separate police bodies under the authority of commissioners, who are appointees of the mayors. Some cynics of state police believe that its establishment will lead to eventual disintegration of Nigeria because of existential threats, which may force some of the states to use the police under their respective control to the detriment of national interest.

There are others, who belief that state police is likely to be misused by governors, especially against members of the opposition although the same could equally be said of the central government as there has always been allegations that political parties in charge at the federal level have continuously used the police to rig elections.

These fears, notwithstanding, proponents of state police are of the view that the Federal Government must embark on a workable decentralization of the police force because the internal security of each state, in line with the federal system of government, is the responsibility of state authorities, while the central government plays a complementary role.

According to them, establishment of independent police units managed and funded by state governments will ensure effective policing of the country.

They attributed the inefficiency of the Nigeria Police Force to under-funding and administrative bottlenecks. Noting that it is herculean for an individual to control the police force in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, they also maintained that it makes no sense that governors, who are the chief security officers in their respective states, do not have control of instruments of security.

They further posited that it is dangerous to expose the military to internal security issues as such may over time affect the impartiality and neutrality that military personnel are known for as well as compromise its traditional role to protect the territorial integrity of the nation.

Chief Chekwas Okorie, a chieftain of apex Igbo body, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, who spoke on the issue, told New Telegraph that it was time that the nation embraces state police in order to tackle it security challenges. His words: “It is in this area of internal security that I have always suggested the need for state police because Nigeria is too large for a central police command.

The nation is large in terms of population and landmass, so the issue of state and community policing should be a priority.” On the situation in the SouthEast, particularly the Mondays stay-at-home ordered by IPOB, he said: “Mere directives by the governors are not enough to resolve the security challenge the zone is facing.

Although it shows their concern over the economic implication of people having to stay at home every Monday, my greatest disappointment is that the South-East governors, including those who just left, have been unable to agree on a synergy that will resolve the security challenge in the zone.

“We don’t have a large landmass; the whole South-East is less than Niger State in terms of landmass, so I don’t see why the five governors cannot team up and come up with measures that will address the challenge.

There are critical stakeholders, transport unions, market associations, traditional rulers, among others that should be brought under one roof for them to come up with suggestions on how to resolve this issue.

“Communities know those with questionable characters in their areas, so the governors should adopt the non-kinetic approach to tackle this issue. It is not late for them to get serious and involve stakeholders, who will make things work.

It is not enough to issue an executive order from the comfort of the government house and expect that it will work.” Similarly, a former member of the House of Representatives, Dachung Bagos (Jos South/Jos East federal constituency), who condemned the Bokkos killings, urged the Federal Government to step up efforts to secure lives and property across Plateau State.

He also called on the National Assembly to fast-track the passage of bills seeking to establish state police, saying the move will help decentralise security and improve local policing. While there is no doubt over the capability of the Federal Government to ensure law and order, there is also the need for all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the spate of killings is curbed before it snowballs into a largescale crisis.