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Resetting Nigeria On The Path Of Predictable Progress - Tunde Bakare

Oct 07, 2019   •   by   •   Source: Proshare   •   eye-icon 2269 views

Monday, October 7, 2019 / 05:55 PM  /  By Tunde Bakare  / Header Image Credit: The Eagle Online

 


Beingthe Text of a Speech by Pastor Tunde Bakare At The State of The NationBroadcast on Sunday, October 06, 2019.


Introduction

 

Fellow citizens;

 

On November 16, 1960, Nigeria's firstindigenous governor-general, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, uttered the following words:

"...let usheal the breaches of the past so that in forging our nation there shall emergeon this continent a hate-free, fear-free and greed-free people, who shall be inthe vanguard of a world task force, whose assignment is not only to revive thestature of man in Africa, but to restore the dignity of man in the world".1

 

Needless to say, the lofty dreams of our foundingfathers that should have propelled us to attain great, lofty heights are stilldreams fifty-nine years on. Yet, with every independence anniversary comes arenewed opportunity to evaluate our nationhood and insist that a dream deferredis not a dream denied. Despite our past and current realities, the fact that wehave remained one nation is a testimony to our God-given resilience and,if properly channeled, it is also a pointer to a future brimming with greatpossibilities. I believe this gift of resilient hope is worth thanking God for.Therefore, fellow Nigerians, no matter how despondent you may feel today aboutthe state of our nation, permit me to begin this address by wishing you abelated happy Independence anniversary.

 

On this occasion, I salute the memory of our foundingfathers who began this long and arduous journey to nationhood. I salute ourheroes past who, over the decades, kept the torch aflame, and whose labours, Iam certain, shall never be in vain. As we embark on an evaluation of the stateof our nation through the instrumentality of a national security audit, Isalute the members of the Nigerian Armed Forces and the security agencies whohave constantly put their lives on the line in the interest of our nationalsecurity, even in the most precarious of circumstances. I particularly honourthe memories of Insp. Mark Ediale, Sgt. Usman Danzumi, and Sgt. Dahiru Musa,the dutiful police officers who lost their lives to the bullets of armyofficers this past August. My sincere condolences to their families; may theirultimate sacrifice not be in vain. Amen.

 

 

Between the Governance Imperative andElection Expediency 

 

Let me also congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari,Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the recently constituted ministerial team, aswell as members and principal officers of the National Assembly as the secondterm of this administration unfolds. We trust God for all the wisdom andskills required for them to steer the ship of the nation aright at thiscritical juncture. 

 

Permit me to also use this opportunity to bless Godand to congratulate the nation for the phenomenal growth in revenue reported bythe Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) since the closure of our borders. We recallthat, on January 1, 2019, we declared the word of God to us on this platform,that Nigeria would experience significant revenue growth through the NigeriaCustoms Service in the year 2019. This past week, the comptroller general ofthe Nigeria Customs Service, Hameed Ali, said:

 

"There was a day in September that we collectedN9.2billion in one day. It has never happened before. This is after the closureof the border and since then, we have maintained an average of aboutN4.7billion to N5.8billion on a daily basis which is far more than we used to collect."

 

We see this as a sign that every word of Godconcerning the greatness of our nation, Nigeria, will be fulfilled even as theclock has started ticking towards another four years of democracy. 

As politicians begin to make deft moves ahead of 2023,this address is a call to forsake the myopia of personal and sectionalinterests, to revisit our foundations, and to begin to reset our nation on thepath to predictable progress beginning with the sector that is most crucial toour national survival and stability: the security sector.

 

 

Of Xenophobia and the Call to Nationhood 

 

The stability of our nation is inextricably woven withthe stability of the African continent. Therefore, I will set the tone of thisaddress with a brief comment on the xenophobic intolerance that has recentlydefined the relationship between Nigeria and South Africa.

 

Permit me, at this juncture, to ask for a standingovation for a true Nigerian, the Chairman/CEO of Air Peace, Chief Allen Onyema,as well as the staff of that exemplary Nigerian company, whose voluntarydecision to evacuate stranded Nigerians from South Africa, free of charge, hasredeemed the honour of our nation. Where some Nigerians have misrepresented us bytheir misdeeds, this model Nigerian has shown that to be a Nigerian is to be aperson of dignity.

 

The outbreak of xenophobia in South Africa is awake-up call to Nigeria. It challenges us to put an end to homegrown "xenophobia" and to unite as one people so we can overcome common challengesand provide leadership to Africa. In this connection, President MuhammaduBuhari's recent state visit to South Africa is commendable. As the process ofmending relations commences, a measured but decisive response to theprovocative incidents is the wise approach. The signing of thirty-two bilateralagreements in various sectors, and the uptick in the enthusiasm of the privatesector,3 is a masterstroke win-win outcome.

 

As we reflect today on the state of our nation and itsplace in the world, I am reminded of the words of Nelson Mandela:

The world will not respect Africa until Nigeria earnsthat respect. The black people of the world need Nigeria to be great as asource of pride and confidence.4

 

Building that stable, secure and prosperous Nigeriathat will earn Africa the respect of the world is the purpose of thisaddress

 

 

The Context and Content of a NationalSecurity Audit 

 

On July 12, 2019, our nation reeled from the news ofthe gruesome murder of Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, daughter of elder statesman, PaRueben Fasoranti. This painful loss was one too many. In view of the palpableanger and the threat of ethnically motivated responses generated by thisincident, it became clear to me that drastic steps needed to be taken inrespect of our national security. 

 

My conviction was further buttressed when the nationwoke up to the tragic incident earlier referenced of soldiers murdering some ofour finest intelligence officers and setting free an alleged kidnap kingpin whohad been arrested by this elite squad of dedicated policemen.5 Thisalarming inter-agency disaster, coupled with disturbing developments such asreports of mass graves of soldiers6 and the seeminglyrelentless reports of killings, kidnappings and banditry, has made itabundantly apparent that our nation is dancing on the razor's edge. Reacting tothe situation, Nigerian journalist, Simon Kolawole, in an editorial titled "Morequestions than answers," noted: 

The current crime situation in Nigeria is a massiveindictment on the capacity, capability and credibility of the securityagencies. A shake-up is non-negotiable. Buhari must be willing to do theneedful, and not make just cosmetic changes, to stop the haemorrhage.7

 

Against this backdrop, as part of an extensivesecurity audit, we will assess Nigeria's vulnerabilities and threat profile,rethink the prevailing philosophy of national security in Nigeria, examine thechallenges to national security, and then proffer solutions, deploying acombination of vertical8 and horizontal9 intelligence. 

 

 

Assessing Vulnerabilities: Nigeria'sSecurity Threat Profile 

 

Nigeria is today confronted with several intersectingcategories of national security threats based on the motivations and powerblocs propelling such threats. These threats to national security manifest inpolitical, economic, ideological, ethnic, zonal, state and strategicdimensions. 

 

1. Politically Motivated Threats 

The politically motivated threats to our nationalsecurity are encapsulated in the simple question: "Who killed...?" Who killedDele Giwa? Who killed M.K.O. Abiola? Who killed Funsho Williams? Who killedBola Ige? Who killed Dipo Dina? Who killed Marshal Harry? Who killed Obi Wali?Who really killed Murtala Muhammed? The security and stabilityof our nation are hinged on eliminating the greed that fanned the flames ofthese political assassinations. Not only do the purveyors of politicallymotivated violence pose a threat to the democratic process; after elections,their thugs become a menacing scourge of armed bandits who take to robbery,kidnapping, cultism and other criminal vices for self-maintenance until thenext elections. We cannot build a stable and secure nation until our politicsis rescued from the grip of murderers and placed in the custody ofpatriots. 

 

2. Economically Motivated Threats 

In January 2012, when Save Nigeria Group (SNG)mobilised a critical mass of Nigerians to Freedom Park, Ojota, we were notsimply asking for a reversal of the fuel price hike that threatened the dailybread of the so-called average Nigerian; we were fighting organised crimesyndicates who had hijacked our collective patrimony in the name of fuel subsidies.Our galvanising slogan then was, "Kill Corruption, Not Nigerians!" The economicthreats to our national security are individual and corporate syndicates wholoot our treasury, bastardise our national image, and submerge our nation'scredit rating in the cesspool of local and international criminal enterprise.To address these threats, we need to revive our economy as a matter of urgencysuch that no Nigerian will have an excuse to resort to crime.

 

3. Ideologically Motivated Threats 

Boko Haram, which derives its fuel from an extremistinterpretation of Islam, falls in this category.10 Theperpetrators of such national security threats tend to deploy terrorismand insurgency as a strategy. Since 2009, over 30,000 people have died in thecourse of the war on terror.11 Winning this war is a nationalpriority that has become synonymous with our quest for peace andstability. 

 

4. Ethnic Nationalistic Threats 

Due to the failure to unite as one nation, the fabricof our nationhood is being frayed by different ethnic groups threatening to gotheir separate ways. Groups such as the Movement for the Emancipation of theNiger Delta (MEND), the Bakassi Boys, Egbesu Boys, a faction of the OoduaPeople's Congress (OPC), Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign Stateof Biafra (MASSOB), and, most recently, the Independent People of Biafra(IPOB), fall under this category. 

 

5. Zonal Security Threats 

Several of our national security threats are zonallydelineated. For instance, the epicentre of Boko Haram is in the North East,while cattle rustling-related banditry is based in the North West; thefarmer-herder conflict has its base in the North Central; kidnapping firstbecame an industry in the South South and South East, and so on. Our borderchallenges are also different across the zones. In the North East, forinstance, the Mandara Mountains allow Boko Haram to traverse Nigeria andCameroon. In the North West, the flatland borders with Niger make it easy forbandits to crisscross Nigeria and Niger. In the South West, smugglers from theRepublic of Benin pose a unique set of border challenges, while the Southerncoastlines grapple with piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. We celebrate thefact that the Nigeria Customs and Immigration services have taken steps toimprove border security by closing the borders. However, we must go further topermanently resolve the loopholes in border management, because no nation canleave its borders closed indefinitely in a globalised world. 

 

6. State Engineered Security Threats 

My assertion that the Nigerian state has been a threatto its own national security might sound strange. However, when state actorssuch as the armed forces, the police force, and others, become perpetrators ofacts of terror, the state scores an own goal and becomes a threat to its ownsecurity. According to Nigeria Security Tracker, 8,571 civilians were killedextrajudicially by soldiers and security agents between May 2011 and September2019.12

 

7. Strategic Threats 

The strategic threats to Nigeria's national securityinvolve foreign interests and actors. In 2014, during the administration ofPresident Goodluck Jonathan, one-time Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof. BolajiAkinyemi, raised the alarm over the strategic nature of insecurity in Nigeria.In his view: 

 

...there are...very  strong  forces, external to Nigeria…who're actuallymasterminding these operations…There has been penetration of...our securityagencies...So, we're dealing with forces that are larger than Nigeria. Theforces involved in the Nigerian debacle are by far stronger than the Nigeriangovernment. Even if you changed your president, his successor would have amajor battle on his hand if he decided to confront these elements 13

 

Five years later, Prof. Akinyemi may have been provenright. Some of the internal threats I have mentioned have externalcollaborators. We know, for instance, from intelligence reports that Boko Haramis affiliated with terror groups in Somalia.14 Furthermore, inorder to deal with the international nature of our security threats, we cannotignore the interests of certain strategic countries,15 particularlyregional hegemons, seeking to consolidate their interests in Nigeria as aresult of our strategic importance to the world. 

 

 

Assessing Capabilities: Challenges toSecurity Management 

 

Our inability to successfully combat these threats andsecure our nation has been due to the following:

 

1. A Faltering National SecurityPhilosophy 

Our national security philosophy reflects the words ofKing Louis XVI, France's absolute monarch who once equated the state tohimself, stating "L'Etat, c'est moi," meaning, "I am the State." Our national securityphilosophy was crafted in the military era when the main preoccupation wasprotecting the head of state and the military junta. This persisting faultysecurity philosophy is the reason governors can legally access large amounts ofmonies in the name of security votes that they do not have to account for;it is why the police force, which ought to protect every Nigerian, has beencomparatively neglected over the years in terms of funding, equipment,remuneration, and training. It is why security, which ought to be a publicgood, has now become a private commodity. Nigerians who can afford it makepersonal arrangements for their security while poor Nigerians are left to formvigilante groups or embark on prayer vigils for angelic protection. 

 

2. Multilevel Unpreparedness for NationalSecurity 

Due to constitutional constraints, our securitystrategies are incapacitated at the local, state, and federal levels. Theefforts of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), for instance, have shown thatBoko Haram could have been curtailed if we had community and state policeforces with mastery of the terrain and ability to nip threats in the bud. Also,despite the zonally differentiated nature of our security and borderchallenges, we have excluded the idea of zonal forces from our bordermanagement strategies even as an overstretched federal government continues tograpple with border security. 

 

3. Organisational Inefficiency 

Despite the significant burden of national security onthe shoulders of the federal government, we have failed to properly organisefederal governance to meet this need. Instead, we have a cacophony of ministries,departments, agencies and advisory bodies that have failed to place nationalsecurity as the cornerstone of social, economic, political, strategic andinfrastructural policies, despite the fact that section 2(14) of the 1999Constitution as amended states that "the security and welfare of the peopleshall be the primary purpose of government."16 

 

4. Security Culture Dissonance 

A segmentation of our national security culture willreveal at least four categories of players: antagonists, survivors, neutralsand protagonists. Everyone listening to me falls under at least one. The antagonists includethe sponsors and perpetrators of insecurity such as double-dealingpolice officers, hired assassins and cybercriminals; the survivors includeinternally displaced persons and victims of kidnap; the neutrals arebystanders who could be swayed to any side and are readily available ascontractors who carry out arms deals for criminals, couriers and vendors whorun errands for terrorists, and communities that conceal the hideouts ofcriminals and become complicit by their silence; while the protagonists includecombatants such as soldiers and the police force as well as non-combatants suchas policymakers and citizens who are prepared to aid the government's efforts.

 

Our national security challenge has worsened becausethe protagonist category is shrinking and many citizens are becoming bystandersdue, in particular, to a low level of trust in our security agencies. 

 

5. Security Infrastructure Deficit 

Time will fail me to talk about Nigeria's scorecard inmilitary strength, including our stock and deficiencies in land andair-based military equipment;17 but where soldiers arereportedly forced to buy their own uniforms and our barracks are nothing butenvironmental and health hazards,18 reports of low morale arehardly breaking news. Besides, it appears that our combined military andintelligence capabilities are no match for the security challenges we currentlygrapple with. A recent report by The New York Times statesthat Boko Haram "fighters now have more sophisticated drones than the militaryand are well-armed after successful raids on military brigades."19 Dronesin the custody of terrorists is a grave existential threat. Moreover, theabsence of robust human and weapons databases has hampered the necessaryintelligence that can aid the prevention and detection of crime. 

 

6. Security Architecture Dysfunction 

National security architecture has to do with securityinstitutions, leadership, training and strategies. Central to our deficiency inthis regard is a comparatively weak intelligence system. Our foreignintelligence service has proved inadequate in meeting our strategic securitythreats. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) should be our version of theUnited States of America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the UnitedKingdom's MI6, or Israel's Mossad, but the NIA came into the limelight in thefirst term of this administration, not for pre-empting a national securitythreat, but for stashing $43m in an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos allegedlyearmarked for their overt and covert operations.20 Also notableis the Sambo Dasuki saga in which the Office of the National Security Adviserwas linked with a phantom arms deal worth $2bn.21 Moreover,the Office of the National Security Adviser may have become overstretched.Juggling the co-ordination of the main intelligence agencies with advising thepresident and overseeing the protection of government officials may havelimited the investigative freedom and focus of the intelligence community.

 

On training and deployment of our military, how muchlonger will we dispatch poorly trained and poorly equipped recruits to theirdeaths? Are we truly using Shilka guns purchased during the 1979-83 Shagariadministration in 2019?22 Are children of the poor truly beingdeployed to battlefronts while the children of the rich are shielded? Is thisthe same National Defence Academy that positioned a poor orphan from Daura,Cadet Muhammadu Buhari, and set him on the path to the presidency? These arequestions the army must answer to restore public confidence in this nobleinstitution. 

 

7. Security Intra-Culture Dissonance 

By security intra-culture, I mean the dynamics ofinter-agency relations. The killing of policemen by soldiers was not just anisolated case of bad eggs in the army colluding with criminals; it was anothercase of agencies working at cross-purposes. Time and again, we have witnessedone inter-agency clash after another. In 2017, the media was awash with theshameful clash between the EFCC and the DSS.23 The inter-agencyclashes may have even extended to the training of our officers. Should theestablishment of separate universities for the army, airforce and navy bea priority at this time when we have a Nigerian Defence Academy?

 

In any case, the biggest indictment on our securityintra-culture failure is not on the rank and file of our military and lawenforcement agencies but the leadership. Allegations of the deliberatespreading of alternative facts, as well as internal wranglings24 byservice chiefs in the race to replace the Chief of Defence Staff or NationalSecurity Adviser, do not inspire confidence in the tenth year of Boko Haram'sonslaught. 

 

 

Towards an Integrated Security Roadmap:

 

Resetting Nigeria on the Path of Predictable Progress 

 

I believe that these challenges of nationhood,manifesting as threats to national security, provide an opportunity to go backto the drawing board and rebuild our nation. It is a call to an integratednational security roadmap as part of a long-term masterplan to rebuild Nigeria.An integrated national security roadmap brings together diverse objectives ofnation-building, including the social, political, economic and strategicobjectives, and pivots them on the national security thrust. We must bear thisin mind as we proffer the following solutions to the challenges militatingagainst our stability and progress:

 

1. Rethinking the National SecurityPhilosophy 

The first step towards securing our nation isrevisiting the philosophical foundations of governance. This calls forprioritising the security of the governed above that of the government. Itrequires making a transition from the governance philosophy of Louis XVI tothat of David, king of Israel, as captured in I Chronicles 14:2 (KJV):

 

"And David perceived that the LORD had confirmedhim king over Israel, for his kingdom was lifted up on high, because of hispeople Israel."

 

King David, by embracing the purpose for which he wasmade king, rather than just enjoying the perks and privileges of office, "servedhis generation by the will of God,"25 "shepherded [Israel]according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skilfulness ofhis hands,"26 until he became the lamp of his nation, placingnational security above his.27 Guided by this people-centrednational security and governance philosophy, we can then begin to designpolicies, investments and institutions that guarantee the stability, securityand progress of our nation. 

 

2. Reinstating National SecurityFederalism 

The need to return to true federalism throughdevolution of powers cannot be over-emphasised. Subnational governments must beempowered to provide security alongside federal structures. The true test ofleadership in a federal system is the willingness of the central government toempower the federating units. It must be a case of first among equals. Thefederal government must, therefore, stop being afraid of empowered states andlocal governments. We must embrace multilevel policing in the spirit oftrue federalism, setting in place appropriate constitutional checks andbalances to prevent abuse. Not to act swiftly, or to do otherwise, can only becounterproductive to our stability and progress. 

 

3. Reforming National Security Governance 

The National Security Council is central to dealingwith the diverse threats to our national security.28 In thisregard, the president, as Chairman of the National Security Council, must takeresponsibility for combating the political threats by modelling statesmanshipand exemplary politics as the father of the nation, reminiscent of the rolesplayed by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln of the United States ofAmerica. By such exemplary leadership, the president must bring the politicalelite to the roundtable of brotherhood and compel them by astute politics andthe force of leadership to put an end to the politics of banditry and to workfor, rather than against, the interest of the nation.

 

Next is the vice president. In an atmosphere ofimplicit trust, any government that fails to maximise the Office of the VicePresident does so at its peril. By the provisions of section 18(a) and section25(b) of the Third Schedule, Part 1 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, thevice president is the chairman of the National Economic Council and the deputychairman of the National Security Council.29 Therefore, thevice president must be empowered to lead the socio-economic thrust of anintegrated national security strategy that rewards enterprise, discouragescrime, and ensures that every Nigerian has an honest opportunity to make aliving. To do this, we must harness the resources in every geopolitical zonefor the benefit of every Nigerian. Therefore, this socio-economic thrust mustbe built on a long-term national master plan comprising six intersecting zonalmaster plans, aimed at restructuring the Nigerian economy into six globallycompetitive geo-economic zones. The operational and financing mechanisms ofthis framework are spelt out in the pragmatic steps towards restructuringNigeria which I have presented to the nation since 2017.30

 

The ideological and ethnic nationalistic threats toour national security call for national rebirth, reconciliation andreintegration. In this regard, once again, we cannot ignore the zonaldimensions of these threats. From Abubakar Shekau to Nnamdi Kanu, what we areexperiencing is nothing short of the regionalisation of rebellion. Nigeria'szonal distinctions are geopolitical leadership spaces waiting to be filled.Failing to fill them with state structures leaves room for the occupation ofthose zonal leadership spaces by non-state actors like regional terrorists,criminals and secessionists. Therefore, the president, by reason of the powersarticulated in section 25(i) of the Third Schedule, Part 1 of the 1999Constitution as amended, should, as a matter of urgency, create a PresidentialCommission for National Rebirth, Reconciliation and Reintegration, and appointa Chairman over this Commission.31 This Chairman should be ableto build bridges among the diverse interest groups in the country, therebyputting an end to agitations and forging true nationhood. As a member ofthe National Security Council, this person is expected to integrate thereconciliation and reintegration thrust into the broader national securitystrategy.

 

To combat the strategic threats to our nationalsecurity, we must rejig our foreign policy and reorganise the Ministry ofForeign Affairs. We must design a two-pronged foreign policy thrust aimed atmanaging relations with two broad categories of strategic threats andopportunities broadly defined as the Southern Foreign Policy Thrust and theNorthern Foreign Policy Thrust.

 

The Southern Foreign Policy Thrust, which we may alsorefer to as the Trans-Atlantic Thrust, will embark on astutediplomacy with such countries and regions that have greatercultural influence in Southern Nigeria, including the United States of America,Great Britain, Russia, Israel, South America, the European Union with specialattention to France and Germany, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular,South Africa, and so on. This thrust will aim to mobilise economic, technicaland international political alliances towards Nigeria's national security,using our strategic importance to international and global security as abargaining tool.

 

The Northern Foreign Policy Thrust, which we may alsocall the Trans-Saharan Thrust, will lead diplomaticrelations with Sahelian Africa, the Maghreb, the Horn of Africa,North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf.This aspect of our foreign policy will aim to leverage cultural diplomacy andpolitical-economic cooperation to combat insurgency and ensure therecalibration of Northern Nigeria; recalibration of the sort that transformedDubai from a desert to a world-class city. To achieve this aim, the presidentmust be prepared to make bold decisions.

 

In all of these, the National Assembly must live up toits oversight responsibility. The legislature must support our armed forces bymaking laws that will spur a radical progressive transformation of our securitygovernance. 

 

4. Recreating Security Culture: "Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty"32

Our security culture objective must be to restore hopeto survivors, motivate bystanders and spectators to become protagonists, andrecruit contractors and dealers as agents and informants. By rewarding andguaranteeing protection for those who blow the whistle on terrorists,kidnappers, criminal herdsmen, cattle rustlers and bandits, we will shrink thepopulation of the antagonists. Furthermore, we must competitively reward valourin our security agencies. Team and individual award schemes should beinstituted for police officers and members of the armed forces who bravelybring down criminal gangs and terrorists while ensuring that human rights arerespected. In addition, celebrating valour and heroism must become a centralfeature of our cultural experiences. Nollywood and the creative industries mustbe supported to produce inspiring epics and biopics in honour of ourheroes. 

 

5. Redesigning Security Architecture 

We can begin to redesign our security architecture bytaking a number of first steps. The funds being funneled into extrauniversities should be channeled towards building the capacity of the NigerianDefence Academy and prosecuting the war against Boko Haram. We must thenrefocus the training of our soldiers to cater to unconventional warfare.

 

However, to create lasting change, we mustinstitutionalize security interventions rather than respond with a fire brigadeapproach to emerging challenges. We already have too many task forces littered acrossthe length and breadth of the nation duplicating efforts. What we need is therestructuring of our police force to allow for multilevel policing. Therefore,we must, as a matter of urgency, create police forces at the state andcommunity levels under the control of the respective state and localgovernments. In addition, given the zonal delineation of security threats,state governments within each zone must come together to constitute ZonalSecurity Councils, to push for constitutional amendments to recognise andempower such councils, and to have them represented at the National SecurityCouncil. Each Zonal Security Council must be chaired by a governor from themember states on a rotating basis and, at every point in time, the chairman ofeach Zonal Security Council shall represent the zone at the National SecurityCouncil.

 

Under the command of the respective Zonal SecurityCouncils, each state within a zone shall contribute officers from its statepolice force towards the Zonal Police Force of that zone. The Zonal PoliceForces shall assume responsibility for policing interstate highways within eachzone and for protecting the vulnerable areas in each zone. For instance, thedense forests of the South East could be policed by the South East Zonal PoliceForce, while Sambisa Forest and Mandara Hills could be policed by the NorthEast Zonal Police Force, and so on. The Zonal Police Force shall also assistfederal agencies, such as the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the NigeriaImmigration Service (NIS), to provide border protection services in the partsof our national borders that fall within the respective zonal jurisdictions. Inthis regard, for instance, the North West Zonal Police Force, under the commandof the North West Zonal Security Council, could provide support to the customsand immigration services in securing all the porous borders around Jigawa,Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi States where bandits, kidnappers, criminalherdsmen and cattle rustlers have been holding sway.

 

"What, then, happens to the Nigeria PoliceForce?" you may ask. Currently the only police force in the country,the Nigeria Police Force can be reformed into a National Bureau ofInvestigation (NBI) focused on investigative policing, intelligence gathering,as well as interstate, inter-zonal and national security as the main lawenforcement agency of the federal government.33

 

By so doing, we will have restored policing duties tovery effective police forces within our borders. This will position us tostrengthen and deploy our defence forces, including the army, the air forceand the navy, beyond our borders to win the war on Boko Haram and toneutralize aggressors beyond our borders as the military did in its heyday inwar-torn Liberia and Sierra Leone.

 

Furthermore, to boost intelligence gathering, we proposethe creation of a Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI) headed by aDirector of National Intelligence who shall report directly to the presidentand shall also sit on the National Security Council. The role of the Directorof National Intelligence shall be to provide unbiased, non-partisanintelligence, while the National Security Adviser, who is a politicalappointee, shall support the president in decision making based on intelligenceprovided by the DNI.34 

 

6. Retooling Security Infrastructure 

A     well-designed securityarchitecture requires a sophisticated enough security infrastructural outlay.First, we must ensure that we kit and equip our soldiers and security agenciesadequately. We must also ensure that the living conditions of our soldiers andpolice officers meet standards of decency. Therefore, we must embark on massiveinfrastructure renovation in all barracks across the nation. This will boostthe morale of our officers and spur them to fight on for their beloved country.Furthermore, from machines to missiles, from precision-guided weapons tounmanned aerial vehicles, from surveillance technologies to reconnaissancesatellites and data management systems, we must upgrade our securityinfrastructure. In this regard, Nigeria would do well to leverage our proposedforeign policy framework with a view to attractinginternational collaborations in acquiring, deploying and even innovatingmilitary, security and intelligence technologies. 

 

7. Re-modelling Security Intra-Culture 

In dealing with inter-agency discordance, much dependson the heads of each agency and the decisiveness of Mr. President who is theChief Security Officer of the nation and the Chairman of the National SecurityCouncil that brings all the agencies together. To this end, I appeal to Mr.President to take a serious look at the composition of the service chiefs andset stringent standards and objectives below which no service chief must fall,otherwise they risk replacement. It is a call for leadership by measurableobjectives.

 

To the service chiefs, perhaps the words of a fellowgeneral, James N. Mattis, popularly known as Jim "Mad Dog" Mattis, former USSecretary of Defense, will serve as sufficient indictment:

 

"In this age, I don't care how tactically oroperationally brilliant you are, if you cannot create harmony-even viciousharmony-on the battlefield based on trust across service lines, acrosscoalition and national lines, and across civilian/military lines, you need togo home, because your leadership is obsolete".35

 

 

Conclusion 

 

As I conclude, let me challenge the church to awakento its responsibility as a watchman over the nation. Nationalsecurity strategies are incomplete without the spiritual role of thewatchman.

 

In the words of Reverend Father GeorgeEhusani:

"Nigerian Christians...cannot sit idly and complainendlessly about the deplorable state of affairs in our country. We must getinto action in whatever way is open to us, and ignite our Christian candle tofight back the forces of darkness and decay, whether as responsible parents orrespectful children, devoted teachers or diligent students, God-fearing doctorsor dedicated nurses, dutiful administrators or faithful labourers. If asufficient number of Christians lit their candles in this way, then we can besure that dying Nigeria shall rise again to greatness, by the power of God whoraised Jesus Christ from the dead." 36

 

Saints of the Most-High God, we can respond to thiscompelling call backed by the knowing that God's set time to favour Nigeria ishere. Overnight on Wednesday, September 18, 2019, God showed me a vision forNigeria. I saw a rainbow across Nigeria with the word "RESET" written boldlyacross the land. I knew at once that the time to reset Nigeria on the path ofpredictable progress is here. In computer terminology, to reset means "to turna piece of computer equipment off and then on again when it does not workcorrectly, to make it start working correctly again."37

 

The rainbow was the symbol of a covenant with Noah,which God placed in the sky38 after He had shut down the earthby sending the flood that destroyed it from its foundations. It is time toreturn to the foundations of our nation - foundations which were laid by ourfounding fathers, but which are now devastated. It is time to rebuild. It istime to reset.

 

As it was in the days of Nehemiah, when each groupbuilt the aspect of the wall within its jurisdiction, the rebuilding has to bedone zone by zone in line with our foundational governance paradigm of truefederalism. Hence, the resetting will require revisiting the federal governancearchitecture. I am reminded of the pre-2019 election admonitions of ElderStatesman and former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku:

 

"...judged by all the relevant indices, Nigeria todayis clearly underperforming and lacking national cohesion as never before. Ifour country is to succeed on the road to political stability and realisation ofits rich development potential, it must, by restructuring its presentgovernance architecture. It must return to the true federalism that itpracticed in the years before the military intervened in our national politics."39

 

Fellow Nigerians, upon the foundation of arestructured Nigeria, we can forge a new nation, one of diverse peoples, boundtogether in unity like the colours of a rainbow, beaming light to the world,working in collaboration, not in conflict, with the rest of Africa, includingSouth Africa, a fellow rainbow nation.40 I remain confident asever that Nigeria will be saved, Nigeria will be changed, and Nigeria will begreat in my lifetime. Amen.

 

Thank you for listening; God bless you, God blessNigeria, and God bless Africa.

 

 

Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd.

 

 

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 Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd.


Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd.


Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd.


Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd.

Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd.

Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd.

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