By: Ishaq Alhassan Qauranmata.
If President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is indeed desirous of writing his name in gold through solving, or at least drastically curtailing Nigeria’s unduly prolonged insecurity, his starting point must be the healthy rivalry tearing our security agencies apart!
“Cooperation and collaboration” are essential ingredients for the success of any security endeavor. But that is between an alert citizenry on one hand and the security apparatus on the other.
However, between different agencies of a nation’s security architecture, COLLABORATION and COOPERATION are not an ingredient, they are success itself!
The criminal refusal by the various security agencies of Nigeria to collaborate and cooperate among themselves in the discharge of their duties account for 50 per cent of the reasons for their failures.
Corruption, nepotism, lack of political-will, etc account for the other 50 per cent.
In place of cooperation and collaboration, what exists between the various arms of our security is bitter rivalry. Nigerians should raise a voice of condemnation, not for the entire Nigerian Army and Nigerian Air force, but for their actions regarding the Tudun Biri mayhem.
Why would the army ignore the advice of a sister agency, most especially, one that has better training on the issue at hand, in this case the Air Force?
Why would the Air Force be quick to dissociate itself from the misfortune of a sister agency in a manner to subject the sister agency to ridicule?
In the immediate aftermath of the unfortunate incident, the public naturally began to blame the air force, because the issue involved an aircraft.
Quickly, the air force dissociated itself from the mishap but it wasn’t done yet. It went further, through some faceless “air force officers” to grant a newspaper interview alleging the army acted contrary to professional advice. The air force noted that bandits do not gather in one place and under bright lighting. That if they even do, you were bound to see lots of motorcycles, their means of transport.
The questions are:
– why did the army ignore these valid observations of the air force?
– why did the air force drop this damning information in the public domain?
Whatever happens to “esprit-de-corp”?
But bitter rivalry between the various agencies of our security establishment is an open secret.
The most recent manifestations were the show of shame between the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Correctional Service over custody of the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele and the gangster style invasion of a police headquarters in Adamawa state by the Nigerian Army. Both incidents appeared to have been swept under the carpet!
Not a few Nigerians anticipated that Muhammadu Buhari, a retired army general would restore professionalism within and among both military and para-military services for effective performance. Unfortunately, Buhari’s eight wasted years only encouraged the progressive degeneration of relationships between and among agencies that must work in unity if any of them was to succeed.
Although it may appear a tall order, we are constrained to call on those around president Tinubu to draw his attention to the need to take decisive and drastic measures to deal with this unhealthy rivalry that is at the heart of our failure to get it right, as far as our security is concerned.
Those at the helms of our security agencies must be compelled to place national security above their ego and greed!
The current national assembly is already a lost battle, ventilating as it is, between a man who treats the chamber more as a theatre for comedy than legislation (let the poor breath, prayers in boxes, a “national” birthday bash, etc!) and another who speaks for the ovation without any apparent will to match words with action!
Qauranmata, a lecturer at the Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna
