Rethinking national security (2)

This piece started last week with a background on the components of national security and argued that defence is only one of the components. The chosen title is motivated by one primary belief: that good governance will enhance national security, and ultimately reduce societal ills. For almost 10 years, I have participated in intellectual discourse with some defence scholars and practitioners at home and abroad on security issues in the international environment. Unfortunately, not all accepted my thesis that good governance is vital to freeing a nation from the shackles of terrorism. Some have angrily expressed their opinions that good governance alone cannot eliminate terrorism. One of the reasons adduced was that at the heart of terrorism is ideology which, to most of them, is complex and requires only military solution. But it is the complexity of this evil act that makes me believe firmly that good governance, in addition to the military option, would solve problems of insecurity to a reasonable extent.

In order to justify my views on good governance, I have always drawn inspiration from the thoughts of Chairman Mao that “It is man’s social being that determines his thinking. Once the correct ideas characteristic of the advanced class are grasped by the masses, these ideas turn into a material force that changes society and changes the world.” Mao’s view may not be valid in a contemporary capitalist and free market economy like Nigeria. This is because in most capitalist societies, the rich hardly take care of the poor. That is why it is incumbent on governments at state and federal levels to ensure that the nation’s common wealth is equitably distributed among citizens through good governance. There may be no single root cause of terrorism but let us try good governance for once in 55 years. This is because the merits of good governance far outweigh its demerits, if any.

National security has been viewed differently by different people and nations depending on time and situation. National security is compromised when there is poverty and unemployment in a nation. It covers the entire gamut of human life. National security, according to Arnold Wolfers, is “protection of values previously acquired”. The Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences defines national security as the ability of a nation to protect its internal values from external threats. The vital question to ask is, what constitutes Nigeria’s internal values? Some will say corruption. They may not be incorrect because corruption has replaced morality and unity of purpose in the country. It is true that corruption destroys democracy but gazing from a democratic lens, our internal values should be defined by earned status, self-reliance, and independence for all Nigerians who want to prosper. These values will make individuals to succeed and enable the country to grow while preserving Nigeria as an indivisible political entity.

Fifteen years into the 21st century, however, one grim reality that confronts Nigerians is the problem of insecurity occasioned by political decay, desperate struggle over the control of scarce resources, rising poverty and unemployment levels amongst others. These problems have been fermented over time by either elected politicians or those who through the barrels of the gun forcefully occupied public offices to manage the affairs of the nation. We also have ethnic conflicts, border disputes, kidnapping, armed robbery, terrorism, and crimes of alarming dimensions which constitute threats to the internal security of our dear nation.

Recently, it was disturbing to read in one of the newspapers that “a renowned militant leader in Benue State, Terwase Awaza, aka Ghana, has surrendered 84 guns to the state government as part of the ongoing amnesty programme by the governor, Samuel Ortom”. The same report alleged that the militia leader said “the land dispute between Benue and Taraba States led to the formation of his group”. As if this was not enough, news on the Plateau killings became headlines on TV and print media to the extent that one Archbishop Kwashi was reported to have stated that “there is need for new security template for Plateau State”. Rivers State was not left out of these criminal activities as it was reported that 130 arms and ammunitions were recovered from some criminals in the state. These are young men and women who are supposed to be entrepreneurs generating innovative ideas in producing goods and services within the Nigerian economy. But these young men and women are being used as thugs by politicians to perpetrate evil. God save Nigeria! How did these guys get these arms and ammunitions? Are the arms and ammunitions manufactured locally or imported? Only the federal government has answers to these questions.

There are only very few societies in the world today without risks and dangers, but it does not mean that kidnapping should become an industry in Nigeria. When you wake up in the morning only to be greeted by headline news such as a politician kidnapped, cleric kidnapped, 250 Chibok girls missing, US missionary kidnapped, newspaper columnist kidnapped, 40 killed in bomb explosion, etc, then there is need to rethink national security in Nigeria. Kidnapping, though a crime by law, has now become a major business for some criminals whose victims are ordered to pay millions of naira or thousands of dollars in ransom depending on their profile or citizenship. All of these in a country of about 170 million people out of which approximately 110 million are said to be impoverished.

The Economist of 20 June, 2015 quoted one Oliver Owen of Oxford University to have said that “a lot of communities have reserves of arms and access to people who know how to use them”. Still on some of the communities, Owen was quoted to have said that “they think if the state can’t take care of us, then we will take care of ourselves”. Most times it is the children of the poor and uneducated that are easily lured into criminal acts because they believe the society cannot provide for their needs. With respect to the North East killings, available data show that “Nigeria has spent six years and billions of dollars battling the terrorists who have killed over 15,000 people in their bid to establish caliphate in the North East, with about 1.54 million internally displaced people”. The military has “boots on the ground” to counter insurgents in the North-eastern part of the country. Efforts made so far by the military are satisfactory and I wish them my best as Nigerians await the December 2015 target.

All the above security challenges constitute internal threats to national development. When risk analysis of contemporary security challenges was conducted by me, the balance of risks tilts heavily towards the nation’s internal threats and not external threats. Let us rethink our national security such that we have a nation where our most cherished values, democratic way of life, institutions of governance, people’s welfare and wellbeing are protected and continuously enhanced. God bless Nigeria.

 

MA Johnson