Checking Renewed Security Challenges

The relative respite from militancy, crimi
nality and cult wars across the Niger
Delta some years ago appears to have relapsed as residents have started complaining about a renewed upsurge in violence and criminality.
Two weeks ago, gunmen  allegedly killed an Army Major recently posted to the 2nd Amphibious Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Bori Camp, at the Waterlines area of Port Harcourt. That attack gives a very sad impression that the military is not spared, and that safety becomes sure only in the hands of God.
This followed the different cases of kidnap in parts of Rivers State in which some prominent politicians were affected. Similarly, a popular radio personality with the Port Harcourt station of Wazobia Radio, Mr Anthony Akatakpo (aka Akas Baba) was abducted from his residence at Rumuekini in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State after being shot in the leg.
It is common knowledge that for every reported crime in Nigeria, there are scores unreported. Only last week, the police in Rivers State paraded 15 persons arrested for kidnapping and 13 others for armed robbery. The police command also paraded five other suspects who wore Army and Naval uniforms to rob a truck driver.
While we commend the Rivers State Command of the Nigeria Police for making considerable efforts at confronting the situation, we think that the times call for new strategies and tougher sanctions. This is more so because it can no longer be contradicted that violence and criminality are not only on the increase, but now wear new face.
Granted that pre-election years in Nigeria are often characterised with violence, kidnapping, assassination and armed robbery, we do not think that the same old fashioned approach to fighting crime will suffice. The world over, the emphasis is now on preventive rather than reactive policing.
Modern security challenges are being tackled using a multifaceted approach of intelligence gathering, community policing, among others. With the proliferation of small arms, drug peddling and cultism, very potent steps are required to make crime un-attractive in the region.
As a point of duty, everyone must summon courage to condemn violence, vices and criminality. This has been found to help in isolating criminal elements and weakening  their confidence. A situation where some influential citizens make comments that give the impression that criminality can be explained or that playing politics with national security is okay, only go to embolden criminals.
In  the present circumstance, the security community should pay close attention to political groups, especially those that employ cultists and thugs to deal with opponents. Contact should also be made with former militants in the Niger Delta with a view to warning them against being used by politicians. They need to remember how they were used and dumped before. They must resist the temptation of being used to make the country unsafe again.
Parents, teachers and religious leaders must also equip children to identify and report criminal tendencies. Also, street hawking, which exposes under-aged children to criminal elements who entice them and sometimes forcefully recruit them into cults and criminal gangs, should be watched.
Government must take seriously the security of lives and property which is the single most important role of governance. Embarking on job creation programmes and projects rather than spending scarce funds on frivolous political adventurism must be considered. When the level of hunger reduces, crime will naturally go down.
We are aware that the safety and security of any community is a collective one. All hands must therefore be on deck, especially in helping to nip-in-the-bud acts that are capable of compromising the peace and safety of the society.
Before now, community participation was hampered by crisis of confidence in the police. Similarly, people used to be afraid of being reported either to the police or the media, that also has changed. But until security operatives are able to respond promptly and decisively to crime, we may just be speaking English.