Security men and our collective security

He looked at me like smelly fish and with his nose in the air proceeded to tap the boot of my car with a long rod which he constantly tapped on his palm. I was incensed but, my driver who had the car on idle sprang to action jumping out of his seat to obey the bellicose security man.           After a while of searching through my car, he wore a grin and demanded for my bag.   “Wetin dey inside?’’ he said in his gavel voice “just my makeup’’ I said. My driver was upset. I told him “let’s do what they say. These are challenging times.” We were smack in front of the infamous Emab plaza bombed in a sad tale of the new fear that has taken over our nation.

The bombing of the zone touched me in more ways than one, I have friends who live there and I also shop there a lot. This was my first time almost three weeks after the bombing that I am around the zone and I am fairly nervous. The security man goes through my make- up bag and returns to stare at me. He casually waves us past and his partner stops us asking us if we have been checked.  My driver promptly mutters when we are pulled to a stop again that “These people do not even know what they are looking for. If they see bomb dem go know am?” This is my greatest dread; that we are hiring security men from farms and homesteads and giving them no training. I am at a loss as to why some security men at this time of great security challenge are still soliciting for money. Organisations, shopping malls and offices must run a check on their security men and if found wanting in this direction must have them sacked immediately. Any security man soliciting at this time must be considered a security risk because he compromises security. Citizens must also report security men who are doing other things other than their statutory duty i.e. soliciting, discussing with a man on the street when they should be keeping an eye on the gate, negotiating for money or favours. We need to do this collectively so we can flush out the bad eggs who call themselves security men while exposing us to the risk of insurgents.

A security man who is flirting with a female groundnut seller by the street is bad news especially in the face of female suicide bombers. We must all be alert and do the needy.

Are we hiring good security personnel as a people? I do not think so. We take our brother’s cousins and our friend’s younger brother and an uncle’s son who has no clue and plant him at gates nationwide. The result is that we are unprotected across board. We have security men who are sitting ducks for insurgents because they do not even understand the basics of security or their implication. I have nothing against ex-service men but I find that some of them are too old to provide the kind of protection that our offices and buildings need at a time like this. I want to suggest that we have a national audit on the type of security men Nigerians are hiring. Let us run a check on security companies feeding fat from our coffers while giving us men and women who are poorly paid and totally untrained. How did we arrive at this place where we are all so vulnerable? Beyond the insurgents, there are greedy businessmen who collect fat contracts to secure a public building or offices then they leave it in the hands of young men and women who they provide with no tools and are cheating them out of their minimum wage.

It’s time to declare a national emergency on security men and women. Except we hire right and train them properly, we will still have gaps in our security coverage for our residences and other important places. We need security men and women who are alert at all times, who cannot be compromised and who understand the sign of the times. All cars must be promptly checked and difficult drivers must be arrested and made to explain their mission. Everyone must comply with the new security checks and all parked cars with no one in it near high security zones must be destroyed. I believe emergency issues must be dealt with in like manner. Nigerians are too casual. We need to be firm, proactive and ready to flush out those who cause us sleepless nights and we need to make sacrifices and report any suspicious activities. Nigerians must become more disciplined at this time. 

Our security operatives are out there taking the heat for us. Let us respect them. Let us support them. This is not the time to be rude to a man in uniform that has been standing in the sun for hours while you arrive in your air conditioned car and shout at him.

This too shall pass. Let us stand united against our many problems, sadly Ebola inclusive.  

Eugenia Abu