How To Fight Insecurity –SSPN

The eradication of corruption will enable Nigerians to enjoy maximum security in the country,  the President, Society of Security Practitioners of Nigeria (SSPN), Mr Davidson Ahkimien has advised.

“Government should ensure that it applies good governance rules at all levels of national life. This will go a long way to restore security to the nation,” he told newsmen on Sunday in Lagos.

Ahkimien said the task of eradicating corruption from the Nigerian society demands urgency.

“Government should eradicate corruption as much as possible, because the more you find corruption in the society the more people will find it hard to pay attention to morality.

“Acts that constitute threats to security are committed because of moral decadence as people think that anything goes,” he said.

Ahkimien noted also that insincerity of the country’s leaders in dealing with crisis situations was further increasing security threats in the country.

He expressed regrets that the nation’s leaders had “an ostrich approach to security”.

“They think that when they hide their heads they are secured. But they do not know that when they hide their heads, their buttocks are exposed,” the SSPN president said.

He also pointed out that an improvement in public infrastructure would encourage production which would in turn provide more employment and reduce joblessness among youths who turn lawless out of idleness.

Ahkimien also called for an overhauling of the judicial system to ensure speedy dispensation of justice, saying “justice delayed is justice denied”.

“When people do not get justice on time, they begin to think that the law does not work and they then take laws into their hands,” he said.

The SSPN president suggested that the private sector should also contribute to security funding as it also benefits from a secured nation.

He urged government to reform the recruitment processes in the security agencies by giving appointment to only those who were qualified for the job. Ahkimien said government also needed to as well equip the security agencies for them to meet contemporary challenges.

He called for the use of religious and community leaders in dispute resolution and arbitration, so as to handle some civil cases which should not go to the courts.

The security expert counselled political office-holders at all levels to ensure a proper use of their security votes to tackle security issues in their domains. “Security votes are not ‘merry-making funds’ for political leaders,” he said, calling for regular checks to avoid the abuse of the vote.

“The security votes should be audited henceforth. The funds are not money for frivolities for the leaders,” Ahkimien said.

He also called for the licensing of retired security officers of good repute to help the country in getting its security arrangements right.