Tackling Emerging Security Challenges

As the nation continuously reframe and refine public policy to improve the security ecosystem, the writer argues that Nigerians need to see issues that drives peace and security beyond our nation’s boundaries. Since 2009, Nigeria has been facing multiple challenges on many fronts with attendant strains on political, economic and social fabric of the country. Other countries in West Africa and Central Africa have equally suffered from the impact of these terror, banditry and other forms of conflicts.

Though, the Nigeria government consciously are making efforts aimed at tackling emerging challenges, it is not yet uhuru for Africa’s biggest economy as the search for the panacea is a work in progress. It is also a journey filled with learning curve that support future planning and reframing the policy environment to strengthening the system. On their part, the Nigerian people remain resolute and positive, in spite of the bourgeoning security challenges, largely inspired by a shared aspiration that a peaceful and secured nation is achievable when citizens engage and support the government as partners and collaborators for peace and security. Analysts adduced the last one decade plus (2009 to 2021) as the toughest period in our nation’s historiography, apart from civil war years from 1967 to 1970.

Conversely, the nation’s security architecture is being recast its stratagem to be more responsive to emerging issues and trends; realign it with new priorities and demands of achieving improved security as well as overarching objective of deepening service delivery and protection of lives and property of citizens and other residents in Nigeria. It is a truism that no country in the world without its own peculiar security challenges, it is instruction to note the impact that globalization is seemingly eroding the previously held views on localization of security challenges. For instance, the face of September 11 2001 World Trade Centre attack in the United States of America, the scale of trans-border crimes and terror activities has taken a new definition and assessment by experts.

Therefore, the 9/11 terror attack launched the world into an era of internationalized security challenges, as non-state actors working solos and/or cohorts across countries and continents, engages in nefarious activities that poses risk on global peace and security. Nigeria’s security challenges, invariably, fits into this narrative as several countries within sub-region West Africa and central Africa, presently are under security challenges. The Boko Haram insurgency, which started in the North Eastern region of Nigeria in 2009, soon began building what is believed by analysts as cross-border coalition with other non-state actors, extending their nefarious activities, killings estimated thousands of citizens in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroun, Chad and others.

Mohammed Yusuf, lead his band of followers in 2008, a very tiny group that grew into splinter groups and several mutations which has altered peace and tranquility in the nation’s security space and beyond. The number of non-state actors and rise in banditry, kidnapping and abductions, armed robbery, and other sundry crime, no doubt puts a strain on the security operatives, working round the clock to ensure that the country remains safe for all. We owe these gallant men and women across the security baskets of gratitude as they labour to ensure that our nation remains ahead of the agents of terror and criminals troubling our nation.

We must support efforts by all stakeholders to ensure fair share of security challenges, the task before leaders is to continuously work at improving the security ecosystem to deliver better services to citizens. Additionally, we need to scale up the system and operational procedures to align with changing trends and developments within the sector as well as align the national goal with sub-regional realities and development to achieve better results and outcome. Nigeria with its geopolitical dynamics, size and historical realities invariably has an opportunity to realign internal security system to meet the present challenges Given the rapidity of events and trends change, adoption of multi-stakeholders’ approach as well as proactive response system will help the agencies to improve its service delivery in sustainable manner.

The continuous engagement by government through policy process, public fora as well as the platforms of the mass media, the government can raise the tempo of support on its efforts to disseminate information on the fundamental issues at play in various theater of conflicts in the country. Nigeria like any other country in the world is bound to have its own share of security challenges, the bigger issues then rests with how policy responses in proactive and sustainable manner to the drivers of these crisis. Leading analysts and watchers of the Nigerian polity will be quick to assert that the root cause of these security lies in the fault lines embedded in geopolitics of the country; historical antecedents as well as unintended consequences of policy somersault as well as its associated political wrangling among key actors.

Others have extended the debate to mass poverty and unemployment as possible key drivers that fuel these challenges, among other litanies of reasons. There is need to remain focus to gain better handle on the issue. Several administrations including President Umar Yar’Adua and Jonathan Goodluck administrations from 2009 to 2015, the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, continues in the same trajectory of engagement with citizens, private sector and Nigeria’s neighbours as it refines its engagement framework on tackling insecurity and crimes. A cursory look at the national defence and internal security budgetary allocations for over a decade now is an indicator that the government at all levels, perhaps are on course in tackling the issue but also continues to align its public policy objectives to this emerging security challenges in the country.

Although, the enormity of the challenges has gone from the Boko Haram challenge in the North East, other regions of the country including but not limited to the North West, where banditry holds sway, to the North Central region with its associated herders-farmers’ crises, largely fueled by access to land resources and separatist movements in the South East and South West regions, and the incidences of kidnapping and associated crimes are common place. Nigeria like any other country in the world has had its own share of troubles, crises and security challenges, citizens concern like in any other clime should be focused on the efforts, strategies and policy orientation by the leadership to respond to the emerging issues, design an appropriate legal framework that also serves deterrents; sanctions and promotes better environment for all citizens and non-citizens that live in the country.

Additionally, how the policy process responds in a proactive manner to the changing dynamics on a regular and consistent manner. It is also important to restate that the leadership, engagement with the stakeholders in framing and design of appropriate policy measures that enhance service delivery by various arms of the security system, whether it is the police force which is the lead agency in the internal security of the country; the military constitutionally assigned the role of national defence; and the intelligence services that are saddled with responsibility of gathering and analyzing intelligence for the use by sister agencies. There is no doubt that plethora of public policy engagement in the security space in the last decades, has seen the Nigerian government extends in a very bold term and manners with its neighbors in the sub-region West Africa building synergy with other countries in West and Central Africa to form, the multi-national lead military and defence, engagements, information and intelligence sharing to stem the activities of cross border insurgency by Boko Haram, Islamic States of West Africa Province (ISWAP) and its affiliates, amongst others.

Again, Nigeria has continued to engage other countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa to tap from its experiences and knowledge in tackling these myriads of security challenges. Any expert who is conversant with the trends, it is normal for citizens to demand more actions from the government in the face of rising security challenges in any country but then, as the sage said, “a journey of a thousand miles begin with a step”. In this instance, the right question from the citizens at any time ought to be, what is the government doing to respond to the situations? Is it developing adequate measures to align its response to the urgent and key issues in bringing succor of hope to the citizens? What are its strategies in ensuring adequate protections of citizens in the face of these emerging challenges and more? More so, it is important to restate that security of the nation are predicated on the core of the society with all stakeholders including the government, the civil society, the elites class, public and private sector actors fully involved.

A collaborative approach towards finding sustainable solutions is required for the country to overcome the current challenges. A cross sectorial approach that integrates all strata of the society that also address the core functions of all stakeholders in the system will effectively build confidence, align purpose as well as resolve faith and commitment to the common goal of a secured nation, shared prosperity and public good. Adopting a new approach that is all-inclusive and knowledge based will not reenact the patriotic passion of citizens; it will create new avenues for information sharing as well as promoting accountability governance process in the management of the nation’s security.

Secondly, it will save the nation from the current attitude of some political actors who relish in blame game as an alternative public policy and oppositional politics to see the futility of the options in the face of the present danger that stares us in the face. The expectations of citizens are fundamentally hinged on the 1999 Constitution as Amended, which says inter alia, “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government; and the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this constitution”, Chapter 11 section 14.1, (b), (c). Therefore, the government owe citizens the right to secured environment in a sustainable manner through the application of policy process that promotes the security and privileges of citizens. In return, citizens owe the country, a patriotic duty to support policies and programmes aimed at achieving the goal of stable democracy, economic and shared prosperity.