Reggae music icon, Bob Marley, said in one of his chart-bursting songs that there is always so much to say. If truth be told our society is in a flux and naturally this kind of state throws up new issues from all corners. We have heard the Central Bank of Nigeria possibly going beyond the function of printing money, its statutory duty, to printing money to wedge our tottering economy from falling beyond acceptable limits. It is a big issue that requires detailed interrogation to ascertain what is the correct situation. Autonomy for local governments? This is a bigger matter, which touches the heart of federalism. It is a controversial matter on its own, especially now the country is beginning to have challenge with cash flow.

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The issue of autonomy for state legislatures and state judiciaries has become a very hot matter. It ought not be in the first instance because it is constitutional, but it has become so because of our penchant for doing everything in reverse order. One can see judges sending a political leader to jail on account of this issue. Let us keep a straight face.
The focus today is insecurity from the perspective of frequent attacks against security agents especially the new angle seen in the South East in the last one month. Every discerning mind knows the chief instigator of insecurity is bad economy. It closes the space thereby constituting most serious threat to individual survival. When people have their backs to the wall, violent reaction is inevitable. Insecurity in spite of widespread concerns is growing and nearly every prescription has revolved around application of might. Might has a big space in resolving it but it can’t be in the first line, I guess this appears to be the missing link. We have especially in current dispensation abandoned the place of reason and what constructive engagement could bring.
Remember the issue today is reckless attacks against security agents in recent times. We will return to the matter shortly but let’s warn on a likely new potent threat that could escalate the already precarious security situation in the whole of our northern fringes with the Sahel region. It is the death of President Idris Derby of Chad. It is difficult to say if late Derby was a good or bad leader; what one can take from the standpoint that no one man is a repository of all knowledge would be that he overstayed in power, yet in terms of curtailing insecurity in the Lake Chad basin he was exceptional; he gave our country huge support.
His fall last weekend especially against poor democratic pillars in that country should be of concern to us. We have lost potency on foreign affairs otherwise there ought to have been subtle, very veiled intrusion into the power game in that country to ensure things didn’t fall apart. A crisis there won’t help our fight against insurgency. Now we return to the issue of our concern which is attack against security agents and their facilities. We have recently had cases in Benue, Zamfara, Anambra, Imo, and Abia states. It is not a good development. Those who truly believe in the humanity of all human beings should condemn this trend and even go beyond to insist it should never be allowed to thrive.
Security agents are first and foremost human beings, they have families just like the rest of us Many of them have children, wives and aged parents who expect their loved ones, who chose to protect the rest of us, to go to work and return to their warm embrace each day. Yes, they signed away their lives in our defense yet their death must not be from wilful acts of those that should be their first line of defense, the people. If death comes in line of duty that is a different matter all together. Those orchestrating this ugly development should desist, nothing at this point justifies a resort to raw violence especially the type that desecrates the sanctify attached to human life.
The nature of the attacks in South East has left more to be desired. The region has been relatively calm but all of a sudden there are eruptions with attacks against security agencies, the invaders we have been told operate at night in large numbers with all logistics involvement. They hit targets unchallenged or feebly challenged, they succeed and still make their escape without casualties or apprehension. Many days after they remain invisible. This aspect raises posers. Is it a case of sabotage or simply incompetence?
Some of us have made the point severally that part of the challenge of good governance in our clime has had to do with those who lead us running no creative schedule at all. Very few have quality time to read the papers, listen to broadcast of morning programmes on television or sit with knowledgeable friends to discuss serious matters of state. If they did solutions would have been readily available to them in good quantity. Recently, a member of the House of Representatives was at a loss why our country has not given insecurity the same attention which the fight against COVID-19 has received. Our leaders made COVID-19 a national issue. Why hasn’t same applied to the more serious question of insecurity? Big Question!
It is not too late to make insecurity a national emergency, thereby letting the federal, state and local governments, business concerns, political parties, traditional institutions and faith-based organizations work together on this issue all at the same time. Why the incumbent central administration avoids constructive engagements is baffling. The Muhammadu Buhari administration is against constitutional conference but is yet to make any efforts to interface with aggrieved groups. Rather, there is this style of talking down and provocative arrogance. Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu acted out of context early last week when he told Nigerians “You can’t intimidate the President.”
The presidency besides loading the administration with people of one cultural perspective has continued on the line of a monologue, forgetting that a leader like Winston Churchill was damn right when he advised upcoming leaders to “beware of tyranny of opinion which tries to make only one side of a question the one which may be heard.” It is in part the invisible gas fueling instability. The administration also has compounded matters with nepotism and even deliberate exclusion. Even countries smaller than our population and size have jettisoned one line security structure. The question is why are we holding tight to it in spite of its manifest inadequacy for the current time.
Those of our leaders who visit other countries know the people guarding hotels, business concerns and residential estates are not necessarily officials of state security agencies but private security organizations licensed by the state to carry arms. They have layers of official security set up  – federal, state, local authority and others. In America, the President, as powerful as he is, still can’t call in security personnel into a state, that responsibility belongs to the state governor. We know this yet waste time hanging to arguments and abuses, sometimes if not all the time narrow politics and arrogance arising from perceived political advantages.
Our security personnel need creative training. When you encounter them you know the level of training is grossly very low if not outdated. These days you see security personnel on duty talking to girls and fiddling with phones while their arms are several meters away. It is a common sight to see officers at very crowded locations eating at the same time. One doesn’t need to be a trained security professional to know that is obviously a big abberration. It is probably same reason they can’t protect their formations against external aggression. Or why they have to block public thoroughfare before they can protect their locations, something men in mufti with communications stationed at strategic points can do without attracting attention or inconveniencing innocent road users.
It is difficult to say why a huge society like ours can easily roll back the hands of few deviants. The Pantami Revelation could be a pointer to internal contradictions. It could be a hidden agenda or still general confusion. Whatever it is, our omission is becoming very costly. It is time to stem it.