As Nigeria passes through these troubled times, it is important to admit all inadequacies if the times would ever pass and not become permanent. Apart from other dysfunctions within the polity, the threat posed to the country and its citizens by insecurity and the campaign of terror by a resurgent Boko Haram, has no doubt opened a can of worms regarding the combat readiness of the country’s security forces, worms that must be banished if the nation would not be swarmed. The recurring kidnapping of students from their dormitories in the north and the murder of Nigerian citizens by Fulani herdsmen across the country is heart-rending enough, tardy official reaction to these crimes is even more so. For victims’ families who desire peace and succor, the insult of an uncaring President Muhammadu Buhari practically deepens the injury of their loss. What has been on display since Buhari took office in 2015 is a shameful reaffirmation of the low premium placed on Nigerian lives by the government whose prime responsibility is to protect them. This is unacceptable and must stop.
There is no day that someone is not killed between Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, Sokoto, Katsina or in other parts of the country. There is a vicious cycle of violence currently taking place in Nigeria, and the Nigerian people are trapped in the middle. The army announced yesterday that troops of Operation Lafiya Dole, eliminated scores of Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists on Saturday in Borno. A statement by the director, army public relations, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Yerima, said one officer and three soldiers were killed in the clashes, which took place around the Lake Chad region. “Members of the public are assured that the troops are on top of the situation and working assiduously to end the insurgency and terrorism in the country in line with the directives of the Chief of Army Staff,” the army statement noted.
This came after troops of the 21 and 26 Brigades supported by the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) reportedly neutralized 81 terrorists in five villages of Sambisa Forest. Confirming the military operations, Madu Bukar, a Civilian JTF leader assisting the army to fight terrorists disclosed: “Our troops inside the forest this month encountered stiff resistance from the terrorists, who planted Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) along the troops’ advance routes. We destroyed terrorists’ camps and recovered their gun trucks and other weapons, while they were fleeing the cleared villages.” One soldier paid the supreme sacrifice and four others were wounded by explosives. While paying tribute to fallen heroes, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Maj-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, urged the troops to sustain the military operations, saying: “You’re to honor their memory by dealing with the terrorists ruthlessly.”
A decade ago, IEDs were strange in Nigeria and sounded more like fables echoed from distant lands such as Iraq and Afghanistan. In the bloody civil war in Liberia and Sierra Leone, it was not even a weapon in vogue. Today, Nigerians live in the danger of being bombed to death by terrorists whose desires are simply evil. Many have been victims and the phenomenon seems endless so much so that the country has become a huge killing field. The devastation to life and property has become a common sight in ways that seem to inure the population against the horror of death. Each time it happens, the people shudder and the government in act of self-delusion often claims it is on top of the situation and thereafter, goes back to business as usual. While many may continue to ponder over the government’s incapacitation, one thing is clear: insecurity in the country is now beyond the government, it is a Nigerian crisis and Nigerians must rise up to the challenge. The intractability of the crisis, of course, indicates that the government may not have got its act right. The country is dealing with a wave of kidnapping and terror and the sincere hope is that there are no fifth columnists in this matter.
Indeed, the inability of the country’s security forces to combat insecurity has now caused the Nigerian military a huge embarrassment in the international community and the setbacks as well as troubling reports of the state of the troops’ combat readiness is worthy of concern. After all, it has already resulted in avoidable casualty and a consequent mutiny in one of the military formations in the country. This obvious deficit must be addressed for a number of reasons. One, the military institution is the material force of the state and must be capable of fulfilling the function of protecting the nation. Secondly, the military is the most unifying institution in the country, and thirdly, the institution has played a critical role in restoring peace and democratic governance to neighboring countries in West Africa. It has also been active in peace-keeping operations under the auspices of the United Nations globally. So, the Nigerian military has a rich legacy. But for this legacy to be sustained; it must meet its responsibility as the amour of the Nigerian state and its vitiation by whatever means must be avoided.
In grappling with the current crisis, a historical reflection is inevitable. The military institution suffers from a foundational “Glover syndrome”- a situation where it has always distanced itself from society, which it perceives as an abstract construct, thereby alienating itself from the rest of society. Whereas in theory and practice, it ought to defend national interest, the military’s incursion into politics and the corresponding spectacle of coups and counter-coup d’état brought down its espirit de corps. It was the case that once in politics; certain branches of the armed forces were treated preferentially according to the whims and caprices of whoever was the commander-in-chief as a form of guarantee against possible coup. Indeed, the Nigerian army became “an army of anything goes.” To be sure, military rule so eroded internal cohesion and professionalism of the institution that military officers became political officers chasing after wealth by means of primitive accumulation.
The point has now been made that the morale of the military is low. And, also, there is dearth of equipment, showing the military may have been underfunded over-time. Recently, however, an improvement in funding has not resulted in corresponding professionalism and performance. A logical question is: what has Mr. President and the service chiefs been doing? What happened to the trillions of naira voted for security in the last five years? What of the security votes and sundry extra-budgetary allocations for security? What is the nature of the procurement process within the military? Military expenditure is very opaque in an environment characterized by almost total non-control by the ministry of defence which, in the past, and in more civilized societies, has pre-eminence over the armed forces. The procurement process must become more transparent. This should be easy as arm purchase is done on government to government basis. Loopholes for the purchase of second rated materials in the black market should be plugged. Then there are the additional issues of absence of sound and steady defence policy as well as strategic, engineering and accounting expertise for arms purchase. Certainly, the Nigerian military needs to be reformed to restore professionalism.
Professionalism is a categorical imperative and it entails, among others, strictly disciplined conduct, sound equipment, great motivation as well as rigorous and strategic training of the fighting components of the military. The glory of the Nigerian armed forces must be restored and the time is now. Regardless of the current contradictions, the new service chiefs must rise to the occasion and genuinely tackle the challenges of our gallant soldiers and truly lead from the front. The new service chiefs must committedly address the problem of low morale in the military. Our gallant soldiers are struggling to be at their best. Videos of our soldiers lamenting about lack of basic things on the war front abound. Many have overstayed on the war front. This is one of the reasons they are losing grounds to Boko Haram.
The biggest drawback to the war against Boko Haram is the persistent lies that the terrorists have been defeated, while they roam freely in Guzamala LGA in Borno. In all the 10 LGAs that form Northern Borno Senatorial District, none is completely free of Boko Haram. This is why over two million IDPs can’t return home. It is so disgraceful and the new service chiefs must end the lies about territories not controlled by Boko Haram, face the realities in the northeast and fashion out pragmatic strategies to end control of territories by insurgents. There is also the issue of “Operation Safe Corridor” launched in 2016 by Buratai et al, to de-radicalize, rehabilitate and reintegrate ex-Boko Haram fighters. This is one policy that has emboldened these misfits. They know that if captured, rather than pay the price for terrorism, they will be pampered, fed and given money. This nonsense must stop.
Captured Boko Haram fighters must answer for their atrocities. Many of the so-called repentant fighters who have completed the de-radicalization, rehabilitation and reintegration (DRR) program, have rejoined Boko Haram after carefully studying the various security arrangements in their host communities during the reintegration process. As Nigerians have well-articulated, the responsibility of ending the insurgency in the North which has shattered the peace and economy of the area does not rest squarely on the laps of the President alone. It is a moral burden hanging on the shoulder of every Nigerian. Thus, a concerted national effort, harnessing the energy and goodwill of every Nigerian, is required to end the scourge of terrorism so that the country can face the urgent task of nation building.
