Why we must reform internal security

In its 2016 report, The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), a leading source of news, data and analysis of internally displaced persons worldwide, revealed that one million nine hundred and fifty-five thousand persons were internally displaced within Nigeria at the end of December 2016.

Sadly, that number is on an unimpeded rise.  In fact, in its 2017 mid-term report, a hundred and forty-two thousand people were displaced between January and June of that year alone, owing to several conflicts and violence.

That Nigeria has more internally displaced persons than south-Sudan and war-torn Yemen in the aforementioned report is a direct indictment of our internal security architecture and should amplify the call for security reforms.

As at today, the Nigerian military is currently engaged in peacekeeping missions in 20 of the 36 states of the federation. Relatively, safe highways like the 162km stretch from Abuja to Kaduna has suddenly become a haven for kidnappings, robberies and rustling.

Entire communities are sacked by bandits, farmlands are recklessly destroyed, a herd of cattle brazenly stolen, women viciously raped and several young men gruesomely murdered in cold blood.

It is common knowledge that about 350 million light arms are in the country today most of which are in the hands of bloodthirsty barbarians who delight in mayhem.

What is worse, is that the food centres of our dear country are strategically being targeted, thereby threatening our collective food security.

Marte in Borno state used to be a major producer of beans and onions, Taraba state a major producer of yams and Benue state the 4^th largest producer of yams and the largest producer of oranges, have recorded colossal loss of lives and farmlands, hence, discouraging farming communities from tilling the ground.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations already estimates that about 5.1 million Nigerians, particularly in the northeastern part of the country are severely food insecure. We must turn this despair around or otherwise risk a total collapse of law and order where people will seek to survive by any means necessary as it was in the wild wild west.

Whether we choose to admit it or not, this country is bleeding and its internal security apparatus is approaching a shameful collapse.

If the blood of the innocent could truly cry out, we all should have had our eardrums beaten to a numb. There is an urgent need to turn the corner and here is how;

First, there needs to be a fundamental shift from the thinking that more funding for guns and rocket launchers will solve insecurity. It is that thinking that informed the request of a billion dollars by the president to fight insecurity.

The one-billion-dollar loan to fight insecurity isn’t a bad thing in itself, but if money could solve insecurity then the Americans would have defeated the Taliban after spending over 700 billion dollars and fifteen years fighting, yet they have only gone stronger.

The president is better off investing over a billion dollars in the economy of the north to revamp the lack chad basin, build modern irrigational systems and provide a safety security net for the most vulnerable.

We must readdress the remuneration packages of the brave men and women in uniform to truly reflect the risks they take to secure the lives and properties of all Nigerians.

A situation where neighbouring countries like Chad and Niger pay their police officers much more than we do will only continue to reinforce a lack of commitment and professionalism from our officers.

Nobody is willing to die for a country that treats them with contempt and very little regard.

Secondly, there is a need to overhaul the infrastructure and curriculum of our police training colleges to prepare our police force to effectively respond to 21st-century crime.

There needs to be a strong link between the academic institutions and our police colleges in other to transform our police force into an intelligence-driven institution. This will require new and targeted funding aimed at research and developing information and technological capabilities.

Furthermore, we must rethink the existing command and control structure of security agencies particularly the police.

A more decentralised police structure, with a certain level of local government and state discretionary authority in dealing with criminal activity, will prove a lot more efficient and effective.

Such a command structure will improve the response time of the police, improve intelligence gathering and enable them to act decisively when the need arises.

Finally, there is a case for stronger border security. Through the adoption of modern technology, a building of walls and the meticulous manning of borders, the Nigerian state must by every means necessary protect its territorial integrity.

The state must develop a stricter immigration policy and must filter every individual who seeks to cross the border into our country. It is foolishness to build houses without doors. The Nigerian state needs new doors to keep bandits out and we need them now!

ADAMU GARBA is a Presidential aspirant in 2019