Commending our security agencies

With the rising insecurity in the country, the last commentary anyone wants to see is one commending our armed forces, and the reasons are not far-fetched.

Almost all the lead stories and editorials in newspapers these days have to do with killings and abductions. One paper even titled their editorial “Kidnapped Nigeria Limited.” Evidence abounds everywhere.

I recall that commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission FCT, Dalhatu Ezekiel Musa, disclosed that 132 were kidnapped, and 5 were killed in 3 months in FCT.

Also, according to a report by the Abuja-based security firm Beacon Consulting, a total of 4,067 persons were abducted, and 9,734 were killed by gunmen in 2023. A total of 519 persons were abducted in December 2023 alone, the firm said.

Just this week, two residents were killed, while 29 others were abducted when bandits attacked Dan Alhaji and Yandaka villages in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State on Tuesday.

In November last year, bandits reportedly abducted over 100 persons in an attack on Mutunji community in Maru LGA of Zamfara state. The bandits attacked the community on Friday night during Isha prayers. The attack reportedly comes after a bandit kingpin identified as Damina gave residents of the community a one-week ultimatum to pay a levy of N50 million for their safety.

The failure of the residents to meet the deadline and pay the requested sum was said to have led to the abduction.

Also, bloodthirsty terrorists killed over 200 people in Plateau state during the Christmas period, and even this week, close to 50 people have been killed again in the state. So, this is the worst time to write an article commending the armed forces and all our security agencies.

They have received hard knocks from all sides, which is well deserved.

But in this article, I want to commend our security agencies for what they have been doing so far. To say our security forces are overstretched and overwhelmed is an understatement.

The military is undergoing operations in virtually all the states in the country. From insurgency, bandits, farmers/herders clashes, cultism, armed robbery, and IPOB agitation, no region is free of insecurity. This has to stop.

Despite the limited resources, the security agencies have performed. If not for our security forces, Boko Haram would have overrun the whole of the north-east. Things are bad, but it could have been worse.

There are bad eggs in the security agencies, just like there are bad eggs in every profession in the country. There are bad security agents all over the world who put filthy lucre ahead of the country.

Also, there is no place in the world that is crime-free, but the difference between them and Nigeria is the swift arrest and prosecution. Many people get away with bad behaviour in Nigeria, and the slow dispensation of justice is a huge challenge.

I believe the collusion of our deviant security agencies with criminals is the reason why insecurity seems not to be abating in the country.

Kidnapping is booming because some of our corrupt security agents are getting their share of the blood money. To minimise this, we need to be more thorough in the recruitment process. The system where cultists and political thugs are recruited into the police must stop. We need to weed out corrupt security agents to the barest minimum.

Needless to say, our security agencies are underfunded, just like all other sectors of the economy. The New York Fire Department’s budget is more than Nigeria’s budget for defence.

We have less than a million security agents, including the army, navy, air force, police, DSS, NSDC, and NIA. For a population of 200 million, this is grossly inadequate.

The government needs to recruit massively into our security agencies and also invest in technology to make up for the lack of manpower.

We need to encourage them and show that their sacrifices to keep the country safe are appreciated. We are not where we want to be, but we believe they can do more to stem the tide of kidnapping and killings in the country.