I was monitoring the Channels Television flagship News at Ten programme the other day when Mr. Babajide Ogunsanwo, their highly-resourceful data analyst, a man many compatriots hold in high esteem, came up with statistics that shocked me and obviously other viewers, to the effect that Manchester City Football Club, England, spends more on its defenders alone (not even the whole team), than the entire defence sector of Nigeria, encompassing the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Headquarters, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.
Using facts and figures, Mr. Ogunsanwo revealed to a shocked nation that whereas Manchester City spent the Euro equivalent of N180 billion (official exchange rate) on its defenders alone, the entire defence architecture in Nigeria was spending N100 billion naira in the current year 2020. And you know what? Whereas Manchester City had already spent every dime of that figure, Nigeria is only releasing a fraction of that lowly figure to the defence sector.
Earlier in June, Senator Ali Ndume gave us another shocker when he revealed that, for the first half of this year, not even a dime had been released to the defence sector in Nigeria, for capital projects, in what in all intents and purposes are efforts by a few from within to sabotage the Buhari administration. By the time one adds the entire budget of just one major football club in Europe, it will amount to several years’ budget of our defence sector in its entirety.
The University of California alone is spending more than the entire budget of Nigeria (equivalent of N15 trillion) this year. The New York Police has eight helicopters, in comparison to three for the entire police force of Nigeria, and the Fire Service of that city alone has a budget that is almost twice that of the entire security architecture of Nigeria. The population of New York is presently put at 18.8 million people, compared to Nigeria with over 200 million human beings. Break that per capita and receive yet another shock.
How did Nigeria come to this sorry pass? The one reality is that whereas President Buhari has prioritized national security as a cardinal policy of his administration while campaigning for office in 2015, the Jonathan administration allowed just a handful of politicians to steal more than two billion dollars (about a trillion naira at today’s exchange rate) that was earmarked for purchase of sophisticated weaponry for our armed forces.
The result was that by the time Buhari came to power, there was virtually nothing left for the government to prosecute the war or win it in a record time, as promised. Morale of our troops was at its lowest ebb, as reported by many local and foreign media organizations, more so with obsolete weaponry that enabled the foreign funded Boko Haram to have a major foothold that emboldened it to seize more than twenty local governments in Borno State alone, collecting taxes and administering a sizable chunk of Nigeria, reportedly the size of Belgium.
It is a fact that every country fighting a war of any sort spends more in defence. Sadly, much as the Buhari Administration wants to do more for the armed forces, its defence budget has been less than one percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). During the Second World War, Japan spent 99 percent of its GDP in defence, while the United States and most European countries spent nothing less than forty to fifty percent of their GDP. Even during the unfortunate Nigerian Civil War, this country had spent more on defence, earmarking 5.5 per cent of its GDP in defence.
Now, for those of us who take pleasure in seeing nothing good in our military, it is necessary to note that the armed forces are literally squeezing water out of stone, keeping the enemies of this country at bay and even eliminating them in large number on daily basis. It is from the little that is available that President Buhari ordered for sophisticated Tucano fighter jets from the United States, during his last visit to that country. Sadly, such sophisticated weaponry takes years to produce, and so, Nigeria can only take delivery of these weapons in the next two years.
Efforts on the part of the Nigerian Army to produce our own weapons are sadly being condemned by some sections of the media who unfortunately see it as misapplication of resources. It is to the credit of the leadership of the military that they have refused to allow themselves to be distracted on that score, as the Nigerian Army alone now produces sophisticated Main Battle Tanks, such as the ones named Ezeugu, as well as mine-resistant tanks and ammunitions.
While no one may set any agenda for the Nigerian media, the fact remains that it needs to consistently harp on full return of all the monies stolen during the Jonathan era, especially the USD$2.1 billion that was shared to a few politicians in desperate efforts to keep President Jonathan in power beyond 2015. Let’s give that the FFK treatment and see the instant positive result. Unfortunately, some of us have been busy defending and justifying that act of national sabotage.
It says a lot about the accountability enthroned by the present managers of Nigerian military, led by their commander-in-chief, that banditry in the north-central and north-west is fast coming to an end, with Borno State returning thousands of people displaced by the war against terror to Baga and other places later this month. The same thing is happening in Katsina, where the state government is also returning thousands of internally-displaced persons to such places as Jibia that was one of the epicentres of the war against banditry. The special forces of the Nigerian Army are resolving the ethnic fights in southern Kaduna, with the state government, as a sign that peace has since returned, relaxing or removing the curfew imposed on most of the affected areas.
Clearly, the best way to report the success or otherwise of the war against terror or banditry is for our journalists to agree to be embedded with our troops, as seeing is believing.
Painful as it might sound, some of us may never believe whatever good story they are told, with many preferring to hear the worse, deluding themselves that they are safe, since the war zone is far away from where they operate from. Those of us who have on our own embarked on on-the-spot assessment of various theaters of war can testify to the fact that farming activity has since kicked-off in many parts of Katsina and Zamfara in the north-west; Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau, in the north-central, as well as all but a few local governments in the north-east.
Earlier this week, the Nigerian Army scored another major feat for Nigeria by its defeat of another dreaded terror group named Darul Salam. Our troops bravely took the battle to these insurgent camps, with their soldiers threatening to take over the Abuja-Lokoja highway and other major towns and villages in the north-central, abducting people at will and killing so many. While there may still be remnants of these terrorists, the fact is they are no longer capable of executing the kind of evil that they were engaged in, almost on daily basis.
Whereas the army is already overstretched, operating in extinguishing fires started by our politicians in 32 out of 36 states, the members of our undisciplined political class have continued to stoke fires, with Edo the latest state where conflagration of major proportions could erupt before our very eyes, God forbid. We will then abuse and condemn the military that we keep over-stretching to the limits, if it takes them time to extinguish these fires we are recklessly igniting.
The leadership of the armed forces should be commended for enthroning a culture of accountability that ensures much is being achieved with so little. Writing on the subject-matter of accountability, a renowned social critic and public affairs analyst, Mr. Yemi Itodo, said in a piece published two days ago that the “Nigerian Army of today is that which is involved in counter-insurgency operations, as well as internal security operations across the country simultaneously and still achieving excellent results. All of these were made possible because of the regime of accountability that has characterized the operations of the Nigerian Army with Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai at the helm of affairs.”
Itodo recalled that “some years back when some civil society organizations led by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Enough is Enough (EiE), and BudgIT issued a joint Freedom of Information request, requesting the Chief of Army Staff to use his “good office and leadership position to provide information on spending on military operations across the country, particularly in the Northeast.”
“This was indeed the first time such a request would be made to a military institution in Nigeria and as usual, social commentators debated extensively on the merits and demerits of such request. It was even speculated in some quarters that the Nigerian Army was not going to honour the request due to precedence and the likes. But guess what?
“The country was stunned when the Nigerian Army responded to the request not just to the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations; it indeed went public in a rare display that elicited commendation from all and sundry in the country. I recall that in response to the gesture of the Chief of Army Staff, one of the Civil Society Organizations, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in a rare act of endorsement of public institution accountability, was profuse in eulogising the Nigerian and only stopped short of condemning others public institutions for not being so transparent.
“It stated thus: “While we ascertain the level of compliance of the information provided, we welcome Mr Buratai’s demonstrated commitment to the Freedom of Information Act by responding to our request, especially at a time when high-ranking government officials including the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbeh and Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola continue to exhibit a blatant disregard for FOI requests by refusing even to acknowledge several of such requests.”
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Let the media give Boko Haram the Fani-Kayode treatment
If there is one major lesson the Nigerian media has taught the rest of the country from the Femi Fani-Kayode debacle, it is that journalists in these shores are united and they can in unison defend their own aggressively. Many colleagues I have spoken to told me they now feel even more proud being the watchdogs of the society than at any other time in our nation’s history.
A hitherto unknown Calabar-based journalist has somewhat become a celebrity because the media insisted on protecting his humanity. Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, otherwise known as FFK, who initially vowed never to apologize for verbally assaulting the reporter, was forced to eat humble pie by not just profusely apologizing to the journalist in question, but the Nigerian media in general. As we speak, this matter is still very much on the front burner, with some chapters of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) boycotting events called by FFK.
From Iwe Irohin, the first newspaper established in Nigeria about 150 years ago, to the various news platforms that presently constitute the Nigerian press, the nation’s media has always been at the vanguard of the fight for the entrenchment of democracy and free enterprise. Though there are some false starts when a few colleagues allow politicians with vested interests to dictate the way and manner they report events and personalities, the fact remains that, by and large, the media in Nigeria can be proud of what it has achieved for the people.
Like every human endeavour, however, we in the media are surely not perfect. And, clearly, one of the areas calling for improvement is the way and manner we do our various reportage of the war against terrorism and banditry, where some media organisations stoop to the lowly level of allowing themselves to be led by the nose by some social media organisations that have no fixed address, and who dish out falsehood that they always garb in noble robes.
These days, you see some mainstream media organizations copying word for word, concocted materials or pictures of events that have taken place in other African countries, just to discredit the military or its leadership. Not all of us care to interrogate the stories or pictures filed by some lazy reporters who have also been giving the energetic, positive-minded ones a bad name. Sadly, not even all of them are quacks.
It is obviously for that reason that, earlier in the week, a respected civil society organisation, the Citizens Initiative for Security Awareness (CISA), called on “critics of military operations to strive in balancing their analysis and commentaries, so as not to dampen the morale of troops prosecuting the war against insurgency, banditry and other crimes, perpetrated across the country.”
In specific terms, some commentators in the public sphere, as well as sections of the media in this country tend to see the Nigerian military and security services in the unfortunate manner of “we” versus “them.” For human errors that these organizations make, or for the reason that their commander-in-chief is President Muhammadu Buhari, who they have vowed to see nothing good in, some of these colleagues will almost always condemn every move of the military and somewhat celebrate their failures by according more premium space to the terrorists, at the expense of our military.
Many will rather believe and readily publish tales emanating from the terrorists and give a blackout to the military. The simple logic that according more space to terrorists in our various newspapers, radio and television outfits aggregates to supporting them, inadvertently as it might be, means nothing to some media personalities in these shores, provided in so doing, they will be seen to be denying the much-hated President Buhari any due credit.
But the question I always ask is: do we have another military in Nigeria, apart from the one recognized by the constitution, and whose personnel are sacrificing their all, including their lives, in our defence? Personally, I can afford to also be reckless in the way and manner I report terrorism and insurgency in this country, but that’s if only I have another legally-formed military to choose from. And so, what it means is that since the only military that we in Nigeria have is the one many of us erroneously prefer to report from a negative perspective, many of us will rather detach ourselves from the crowd by supporting them to win the war and ensure we and every other Nigerian continue to live in peace and operate as journalists or engage in some other endeavor.
When, between April and July 1994, the Rwandan military and entire armed forces were overwhelmed during the genocide, all media houses were forced to close shop, as everyone was running for dear life. Feeding once in two or three days and drinking of one’s urine was tragically the norm, rather than the exception. As is well known, more than a million people lost their dear lives in just 100 days of intense rage.
Even here in Nigeria, in Abuja, Kaduna and other places, some media organisations were bombed eight years ago and some of our colleagues, such as Enenche of Channels TV and Bisallah of New Telegraph newspaper, were killed by Boko Haram in Kano and Abuja, respectively. Even the United Nations building in Abuja and come to think of it, the Nigeria Police Force headquarters were also bombed. Now, the fact that the terrorists could no longer operate in Abuja and other states, apart from mainly Borno State, should be enough indication that unprecedented victories are being attained in our nation’s push to rid this country of all forms of terrorism and banditry. I cannot fail to see and appreciate that, even when I believe some mistakes are being made by the military, just as nothing human can ever be perfect.
In his relentless efforts to woo Nigerians and especially the media to support the Nigerian military in the war against banditry and terrorism, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusufu Buratai once told the management of the Sun Publishing Company and the Daily Trust newspapers in a meeting he had with them that the media can deploy its immense powers to help win the war for Nigeria if they, in unison, strongly support the armed forces and report less on the unverified “exploits” of the terrorists and bandits.
The Army Chief was very clear that no one was denying the media its right to report issues as they are, but that in so doing, we should not lose sight of the fact that terrorists thrive in publicity, which we have unintentionally and generously been giving them very much for free. General Buratai is completely right in that regard because even countries where journalism originated from put aside their differences with the armed forces or government of the day, to suppress the enemies by refusing them publicity through prominent publication.
The treatment we all have collectively given the much-hyped FFK is a pointer to the fact that the Nigerian media is still very much effective in its agenda-setting role as Fourth Estate of the Realm. If we all do that to Boko Haram, there is no doubt that that alone will defeat the remnants of the terrorists and bandits still in existence and ensure such calamity does not visit us ever again. We will then continue working without let or hindrance, and without the fear of being bombed by terrorists, as has unfortunately happened to some of our dear colleagues.
Through our sustained support in the media, citizens will see the need to help our armed forces with the kind of information needed to totally win the war and enthrone a society that is safe for us all.
Over to you, the ever-vibrant Nigerian media.