Security experts in the North-East have advocated proactive measures to reorganise national security architecture to tackle terrorism and other criminal activities in the country.
They also called for closer collaboration between security agencies and communities to effectively address security challenges in the country.
The experts, who spoke in Bauchi, Gombe, Maiduguri and Yola, said such collaborative effort would enhance security network in the country.
A Bauchi-based security expert, Mr Abdullahi Yelwa, said that Nigerians were largely responsible for the insecurity due to lackadaisical attitude to security issues in the society.
He said: “everyone is guilty of security situation in Nigeria”.
The expert, however, blamed the leaders for their inability to demonstrate great political commitment towards providing lasting solutions to the problems.
Yelwa, a lecturer with the Department of Crime Management and Control (CMC), Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi, said it was imperative to prioritise security ahead of the 2023 general election.
According to him, the primary essence of government is to ensure security of lives and property of the people, noting that this has not been significantly achieved over the years.
“This is having a symbolic effect. When you talk of physical insecurity in terms of kidnapping for ransom, cattle rustling, banditry and others, you will also discover that people have been sent packing from their farms.
“Invariably, this would multiply what we call food insecurity because people cannot eat and if people can’t eat, they will be hungry.
“So, if people can’t sleep because they are hungry and certainly, the rich will not sleep because the poor are awake,” he said.
He noted that some states were relatively better than the others in terms of security, adding that, “in the North-East generally, you can appreciate God Almighty for what we have in Bauchi State”.
The expert said that all hands must be on the deck for a peaceful and crime free society.
He added that the masses have a responsibility to give credible intelligence, and the security agencies should use the information to resolve security problems.
“The challenge we have is that some security agents are complicit in these security issues.
“We have cases of security personnel involved in killing innocent people. So, if a security personnel would be involved in such obnoxious acts, what about others.
“We need to rework and reorganise the security architecture in such a way that it will be workable.
“We must ensure that people are employed, adequately trained and modern equipment deployed to handle security situation,” he said.
Corroborating Yelwa’s views, a public analyst, Mr Inuwa Abubakar, stressed the need for deployment of modern equipment to rejig security apparatus in the country.
“Security agencies are operating in an analogue dimension and the criminals are changing their tactics. It is important we go all out digital,” he said.
Abubakar further said it was imperative for Nigerians to understand the mandate of all security agencies, adding that their roles must be clearly defined and adhered to.
“Each and every organisation wants to convince the public that it is the most important, reliable and hardworking.
“And even those who are supposed to come at a very rare invitation such as the military, now partake in internal security operations.
“The civil defence too wants to carry arms even though they are not meant to do so, and everyone wants to poke nose into the police work because it is inadequate, ill equipped and ill trained,” he said.
Similarly; the Gombe Commissioner for Ethical Orientation and Internal Security, Adamu Dishi, attributed the relative in the state to effective synergy between the government and security agencies.
He said the feat is achieved through implementation of sound programmes and policies aimed at providing enabling working environment to security agencies in the state.
The commissioner said inter-agency rivalry was a major challenge threatening to internal security, adding that, ‘In Gombe, we do not have such problem.
‘’Gombe is situated at the centre of the North-East, and on daily basis we record influx of people from neighbouring states.
‘’Such working collaboration is imperative towards improving the security and ensuring that Gombe remained a safe haven for all,” he said.
The commissioner said the government successfully tackled communal clashes which was the only security problem, especially in southern part of the state.
“Throughout 2022, there was no communal clash in the state.
“The success recorded in tackling the issue may not be unconnected with the collaborative effort between the government, security agencies and relevant stakeholders in sensitising the parties involved,” he said.
Also; Special Assistant to Governor Inuwa Yahaya on Security Matters and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Alhaji Yusuf Danbayo, said the state governor prioritised support to security agencies which translated to relative peace in the state.
He said, “the governor has been providing support to security agencies and treated credible intelligence seriously.
“The security agencies are succeeding in the fight against crimes in view of the synergy between all the stakeholders”.
In the same vein, the Police Public Relations Officer in Adamawa State, SP Suleiman Nguroje, said the command had intensified surveillance and patrol to protect lives and property in the state.
“The Police Command and other security agencies designed security rink strategies, to provide enabling environment for all political parties to move around without any challenges.
“By doing so the command engaged organising secretaries of political parties to give us time tables of their campaigns to help the Command provide security everywhere,” he said.
Nguroje further reiterated the command’s commitment to fight crimes, protect lives and property in the state.
Moreso; the Police Commissioner in Borno, Abdu Umar said the command had intensified patrols and raids against criminal hideouts to sustain the gains achieved in the fight against insurgency in the state.
He said that about 1,800 constabulary had been deployed to enhance community policing across the 27 LGAs of the state.
He said the role of constabulary would assist in crime detection and prevention, conflict resolution, intelligence gathering and dissemination to maintain law and order.
“The command deployed 10 policemen across the 27 LGAs, to augment sister security agencies in combating terrorism and crimes,” he said.
For his part, a Counter Insurgency Expert in Borno, Babangida Musa, advised the security agencies to sustain the gains recorded in the counter insurgency campaign.
Musa said that reports indicated that terrorists were fleeing Borno to other parts of the country.
He called for synergy between security agencies in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon Republics, and urged them to be on alert to monitor terrorists fleeing the region.
“We are told that they have been migrating to the North-West and North-Central to join forces with bandits.
“This analytic alert recommends a proactive state and regional intelligence, security engagement, absolute local vigilance and sustained regional collaborative effort as part of a joint strategy.
“In fighting terrorism all hands must be proactively unified towards a common positive goal,” he said.
He urged security agencies, local and the international communities to adopt a bottom up civil-military approach to effectively end terrorists’ violent activities in the country.