Security and infrastructure — which one takes precedence?

In Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, from the base, security comes after physiological needs. Security, in his estimation, entails the entire gamut of human beings’ need to feel safe from all sorts of danger including physical or bodily injuries. According to Maslow, when a human being meets the biological or physiological need of being able to keep body and soul together and stay alive, the next need would be the need to feel secure. Low as this need is on the pyramid, it is unfortunate that the majority of the over 200 million Nigerians, in the 21st century, cannot boastfully say they are secure in the country. Security, meanwhile, is what citizens of most countries almost take for granted, courtesy of the level of seriousness that their various governments attach to it.

The essence of governance in any society is to provide happiness for the majority of the people through the provision of social amenities, with security (of lives and properties) at the base. Without security, the benefit of any social infrastructure provided, no matter how modern or sophisticated, becomes evaporative.

It was, therefore a matter of course that, Nigerians rejoiced, when, in the build-up to the 2015 general election, the then candidate – Muhammadu Buhari (a retired army general and now a democratically elected president) promised, among other things, that he would ensure the security of lives and properties in the country. Such a promise won him very resounding political accolades at the time. No thanks to the deteriorating national security across the country with bombs going off in and around the federal capital territory, Abuja. Then, the notorious Boko Haram insurgents were at the pinnacle of their deadliness. A territory the size of Belgium was under their (Islamist) rule in the north-east. And based on antecedents like the fabled crushing of the Maitatsine group and some marauding Chadian invaders then in the Lake Chad region, while he was a general-officer-commanding, one of the military establishments under which jurisdiction the north-east fell, Nigerians believed crushing the Boko Haram insurgency by any government led by Buhari was a matter of when, and not if he was voted into office. He also did promise to tackle corruption, revitalise the economy, and bridge infrastructural deficits left behind by the successive administrations through their respective actions or inaction. If one, therefore, is to evaluate Buhari’s performance over the past seven years, I believe it is fair to judge him based on his administration’s performance in those key areas where he has promised to change things for the better and not to cherry-pick, where, or which parameter to deploy in doing so.

In appraising his administration, I’m going to have to heavily rely on my loyalty to logic inherent in the fact that, “to enjoy any infrastructural facility, the people’s lives and properties need to be secured adequately”. Remember, security should be at the base of the pyramid in the Maslowian hierarchy of needs, in “public service delivery”. For instance, the dual carriageway linking the north-west to Abuja, the nation’s seat of power, is one of the best roads in the country but I am not sure if the president himself or his minister for defence feel safe enough to travel that route now, no thanks to the heavy presence of terrorists in the forests along the road. In light of the above, there is no gainsaying the fact that those who philosophized that security is the most fundamental responsibility of any government definitely knew what they were talking about, before coming up with that proposition.

In an atmosphere of insecurity, characterised by threats to lives and properties, there can be no meaningful development as socioeconomic activities would remain grounded. Just take a look at the south-east where the so-called “unknown gunmen” are holding sway. This is a region peopled by some of the most enterprising groups of humans you can ever find on this planet earth. But today, the economy of the region has been brought to its knees because of the chronic insecurity that has become emblematic of the area as a result of what should be left as a topic for another day. It is only in a secure environment that the government will be able to provide social amenities and expect the people to savour the benefits. Furthermore, it is imperative that there be peace and security before the target beneficiaries would be able to enjoy any of such projects, so designed and executed by the government. The only part of the country that is relatively safer to conduct businesses, live in and enjoy social infrastructure is the south-west and maybe, parts of the south-south region. One must be alive to enjoy whatever project the government executes.

This is what informs my position and those of many right-thinking and well-meaning Nigerians when I stated that infrastructure without security amounts to nothing. But what I usually get as a response from self-styled Buharists on social media, who see no wrong in any of Buhari’s policies, even the one the president himself admits to being wrong and apologises for is that: “Shebi he has succeeded where others failed – infrastructure”. However today, the reality must have dawned on them that those infrastructures are as good as not being in existence when people cannot dare to enjoy them without a measure of assurance that, no bodily harm will befall them when they attempt to make use of them. Sincerely speaking, I hate to be proven right in a situation like this but unfortunately, it happened. On March 28, 2022, terrorists hijacked a Kaduna-bound passenger train travelling from Abuja to the capital city of the defunct northern region, seizing dozens of passengers on board. Meanwhile, this is one of the projects every “Buharist” on social media brandishes to justify whatever failure, in any sector, you draw their attention to even though he never started it from the scratch.

As I write this, the Abuja-Kaduna rail service still remains grounded as it has been since the incident occurred in late March. I am not sure if any Nigerian would want to travel to that part of the country using that service for now, even if it is open for free. This is due to feelings of insecurity, based on recent experiences. Recall that hundreds of millions of naira have been collected in ransom by the bandits from the families of the victims yet, released the captives at will. The security situation has gotten to such a level that even a military training institute, Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna was invaded and some army officers kidnapped. The airport was not spared. This chain of occurrences has rendered the multi-million dollar investments inoperable. We live in a country where billions of dollars, in extra-budgetary allocations, have been expended on the acquisition of military hardware in the past decade yet, the defence minister, Major-General Bashir Magashi (retired), had no compunction coming forth to tell Nigerians not long ago not to be too scared of defending themselves against the bandits because, in his jaundiced estimation, the bandits don’t come for such operations with more than an AK-47 and three rounds of ammunition. All that Nigerians need to do, according to him, is to endure for as long as three rounds of ammunition last in the hands of the bandits (terrorists). Then I shuddered to ask; with what does the minister expect Nigerians to defend themselves? Frying pans? Duvets? Come on…! We have to get more serious than the comedy skits, churned out by President Buhari’s appointees if we hope to progress as a nation. A dearth of purposeful leadership is the major problem Nigeria has to contend with in the well-thought-out opinion of late Chinua Achebe in his book ‘An Image of Africa and the Trouble With Nigeria’.

Now, the latest ripple effect of insecurity in the country is the stoppage of construction works by a Chinese firm, CCECC Limited, on the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line project due to incessant attacks on the company’s workers and vandalisation of rail tracks. Terrorists, bandits, and vandals are making life difficult for the company’s workers. This is according to a report, quoting the minister for transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, last Saturday. This, according to the report, happened somewhere around Abia state. I believe the situation would be the same, if not worse, by the time they cross the Benue River, to the northern stretch of the project. It would be recalled that this is the southeastern corridor of the project meant to connect the north-east to seaports in Cross River, Rivers and Delta states by rail for easy haulage of merchandise to and from the ports.

Considering the fact that the national headquarters of the current wave of insecurity (Boko Haram/ISWAP insurgency) in the north-east is Borno state from where it spreads to other neighbouring states of Adamawa and Yobe in the region, a worst-case scenario awaits the project up north. When insecurity prevented Nigerians from using the Abuja-Kaduna rail line, some people believed it was just one of those isolated cases that have little or no tendency to be repeated, anywhere in the country. But here we are, talking about contractors withdrawing their site workers for reasons that border on security. This sends a bad signal to the nation’s development partners and foreign investors. This, if not addressed as soon as possible with the way the armed forces responded to what happened around Bwari Area Council in Abuja some weeks ago, is capable of discouraging government partners in such projects from proceeding with whatever plan or agreements the federal government might have struck with them.

Nothing better illustrates how key security is to governance than these two incidents cited above. It is one aspect of governance that if not craftily handled, could make a mess of whatever plan or policy the government might want to implement or has implemented in other sectors.

Nothing signposts the Buhari administration’s failure in the area of security than these two incidents. It is such a shame that things like these are happening under the watch of a sitting president with a supposed military background – an army general for that matter! I think the internet trolls who style themselves “Buharists” defending everything indefensible would now have some sense going forward to realise that security takes precedence over infrastructure, as no one would be able to enjoy any world-class infrastructure in an atmosphere of insecurity. No developmental project can be embarked upon by the government where there is no security. And again, they need to realise that loving a man, regardless of who he is, can never be equated with patriotism (love for one’s country). President Muhammadu Buhari has, to a considerable extent, failed not only Nigerians but also those who trusted him, back in 2014, to crush insecurity and make Nigeria a very safe place to live and do business.

Abubakar writes from Ilorin. He can be reached via 08051388285 or [email protected]