SECURITY chiefs and heads of other security agencies on Tuesday gave vivid accounts of some of the challenges impeding the prosecution of war against insurgency in the country when they appeared before the House of Representatives at plenary on sectoral debate for ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
Present at the plenary included the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa; the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Taoreed Lagbaja and the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogala.
Others were the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar and the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kay-ode Egbetokun.
Apart from some of the challenges which include the connivance between Boko Haram elements incarcerated in correctional centres and warders to plan operations and transfer money to their allies, General Musa specifically blamed the judiciary for freeing terrorists after security operatives might have done a lot to arrest them.
He also expressed frustration over the delay in the prosecution of arrested sus-pects, including Boko Haram members.
The CDS said: “I’ve been in the North-East; there are a lot of Boko Haram elements who had been captured and being kept. We have kept them for over five, six years. We, the Armed Forces, cannot pro-secute. We can only provide the right protection for them.
“Some of them have been found to be awaiting prosecution, but no prosecution.
We are keeping them for this lengthy periods; everybody is accusing the Armed Forces of keeping them against their human rights, but we cannot prosecute.
“Another aspect of the judiciary is this, you do all your efforts, you make an arrest, you hand them over, but before you enter your vehicle, the man is released on bail.
Now, you have risked yourself in doing that, by the time he’s released, he goes to tell his people who you are and your family members, so you are at risk,” he lamented.
To this end, he called for the establishment of special court for the prosecution of suspected criminals in a bid to expedite the administration of justice in the country.
While giving account on the security challenges in the South-South and SouthEast regions, General Musa expressed concern over the activities of one of the leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Simon Ekpa, “who is currently hiding in Finland, while doing a lot of damage to the South-East region of the country.”
Calling for the establishment of good border control with a view to effectively monitoring the people coming into the country, Musa noted that Niger State alone has 173 forests that are un-manned, hence being used by non-state actors to perpetrate their activities.
General Musa, who alleged that Ekpa was being protected by Finland, said there is a need for the government to engage the government of Finland and possibly invite its ambassador for a discussion.
He said while the military and other security agencies in the country are doing their best to ensure that there is peace in the South-East, the comments and activities of Ekpa are sabotaging such ef-forts.
He also disclosed that at the moment, about 140,000 terrorists have surrendered and are awaiting disarm-ament, while adding that there is no single territory currently being occupied by Boko Haram insurgents in the country.
He said: “Anywhere you have good governance, insecurity goes down, without which it’s a problem. Security forces can only provide 30 percent; we can only provide the enabling environment.
If other aspects are not ad-dressed, it is a problem.
Security is not only security; we have food security, health security, social security, education security. All these play vital roles in achieving what we are doing.
“So, if we don’t put these things in place through good governance, it becomes a problem. In the North-East, we are able to achieve so much because we have element of good governance.
“We have seen governors who are willing and doing things to make the people happy and that has translated into the successes we are having.
“So, it is important, as I mentioned earlier, the issue of IDPs has been the most important threat we have.”
He also expressed concerns over undue delay in the release of annual budgetary allocations for the procurement of requisite equipments for the prosecution of security operations.
Other challenges threatening security as raised by General Musa, include internally displaced persons (IDPs), porous borders which lead to free flow of light weapons and arms through neighbouring countries, human trafficking and influx of illicit drugs, as well as influx of criminals who come into the country at will and go out.
While speaking on the peculiar case at the correctional centres in the North-East, he said: “The issue of correctional facility in the North-East, when we were drilling some of the arrested Boko Haram elements, they told us how from the prisons they could plan operations out there.
“From the prisons, they plan operations; they pass points across, use some of the warders, we are not saying all of them are bad, but they use some of them; they use their bank accounts to transfer money and the deal is anybody whose account is used to transfer, they share 50-50.
“Those are the challenges we are having. And if you look at where we have the correctional facilities, they ve all been occupied, in a facility, they have a school sharing wall with the prison yard.
In Ibadan, the market place in Agodi is where you pass through,” he lamented.
In his submission, the IGP lamented the multi-faceted challenges facing the police and the expectations of Ni-gerians, saying he inherited a battered Force.
He said despite the terrible environment in which police personnel are operating, Nigerians are still expecting them to perform magic.
He said workforce was zero, while the equipment and other logistics to work with were not available.
Egbetokun said in some of the 774 local government areas in the country, most of divisional police stations have no functional patrol vehicles.
He, however, said the force is trying to provide adequate security for the citizens despite the challenges.
Speaking earlier, the speaker, Honourable Tajudeen Abbas, explained that the sectoral debate is starting with the security sec-tor, given the unprecedented challenges of the past decade.
He said: “Over the last few years, we have made significant progress in tackling insecurity through improved investment by the Federal Government and the gallantry and professionalism of our service men and women.
I salute the courage of our armed forces and law enforcement personnel.
“Let me emphasise from the onset that appearance in person for all invited heads of MDAs is required throughout this sectoral briefing. As such, the House shall not accept proxy representation for any reason whatsoever. Notices are sent well in advance to forestall any excuses.”
He said the engagement with heads of various MDAs is in demonstration ofthe House determination to ensure that legislative measures and decisions are evidence-based and people-oriented.
The speaker said: The sectoral briefs will provide us with an opportunity to scrutinise the policies, activities and plans of each MDA. It will also allow the House and members understand better the challenges facing government agencies, their programmes and areas for legislative interventions.
“Accordingly, we have developed a calendar for our planned engagement with the executive, covering several thematic areas, including the economy, education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, and many others.
This will be undertaken regularly throughout the life of the 10th assembly.
“The debates are in line with our constitutionally assigned powers to make laws for the good governance of the federation and to ensure that government pro-grammes and expenditures are in line with legislative intent.
“Therefore, the legislature must engage in constructive dialogue with senior government officials from all sectors to understand their operations, challenges and legislative needs.
“Honourable colleagues, we made a conscious decision to commence the sectoral debates with the security sector given that it is prioritised in our legislative agenda. 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.”
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