There are many institutions in Nigeria that jointly manage disaster
occurrences in the country. While the National Emergency Management
Agency is the coordinating body for disaster management, other
stakeholders are always on the ground to address the emergency
challenges.
Some of the institutions include Civil Defence Corps, Fire Service,
Road Safety and volunteer groups like the Red Cross. Meanwhile, other
powerful agencies are actually involved in tackling any action that
could led to injury and loss of lives. Such bodies are authorised to
carry arms. They are the Police, Army, Navy and Air Force. While it is
the responsible of the police to tackle internal conflicts and crises,
the military are to protect the territorial integrity of the state and from external aggression.
It is interesting to note that there have been efficient and effective collaboration among the response agencies, especially in managing some challenging emergencies in the country. While the military, police and other security agencies jointly protect the citizens from marauders and militants, the National Emergency Management Agency and Red Cross remain actively involved addressing the needs of victims of disasters.
The seeming missing link in the joint operation of response agencies
is the alleged distrust between the civilian residents and the
security personnel who are there to protect them. Recently the
National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, called for better cooperation and understanding between civilians and security personnel as the nation wages war against terrorism in some parts of the country.
The call came at the time when some were expressing the fear that the more troops deployed by the government as an answer to the increasing security challenges posed by terrorists, armed robbers, kidnappers and other anti-social elements are making life unbearable for law-abiding citizens.
At a recent National Civil-Military Dialogue in Abuja, participants
observed that the past decade witnessed multiple forms of unrest –
from armed robbery to kidnapping, electoral, communal to
ethno-religious violence as the country is battling with insurgency
and terrorism.
From the outset, it is necessary to say that the current security
challenges are not peculiar to Nigeria but it is a global phenomenon,
which is being witnessed in various countries where the military have
to protect the state from sophisticated terrorists. Some countries
have witnessed lawlessness at its peak where vagabonds, masquerading
as freedom fighters, attempted or succeeded in taking over
governments. The changing role of the military in fighting terrorist
groups, like the Nigeria’s Boko Haram, has brought our soldiers closer to communities and the people who reside in them in a way that has been unexpected. This, definitely, creates the anxiety and tensions as both groups (civilian and military) chart a new way to accommodate each other.
There is nothing wrong if security is strengthened by deployment of
troops to assist civilian authority to check civil disobedience when
the police can no longer cope. But the question we must ask is: are
the police ready to cope with the current challenges when their
officers (including DPOs) are ambushed and killed arbitrarily? When
their formations have been destroyed with highly explosive devices and when they themselves are excessively overwhelmed to even protect their structures rather than the innocent citizens? A logical solution, which is in existence, is efficient delivery of the Joint Task Force, which has membership from all relevant security agencies, to tackle squarely the high level of insecurity in the country.
The setting up of the JTF is in the realisation that policing the
domestic arena is not the duty of the military, whose training is
directed against external enemies of the state. However, we must
realise that the military’s participation in joint activities with
other para-military outfits to confront the tasking new millennium
security challenges are for strengthening efforts to protect our
people from devilish and wicked marauders.
It is in view some avoidable frictions between the soldiers and the
civilian populace that I believe Dasuki sought for better
understanding and collaboration between the two groups. According to
him: “The military can provide desirable assistance to civilians
wherever they operate, while the civilian populace can reciprocate
this in many other ways.”
Civilians’ vigilance and provision of information enhance the
efficiency of the security agencies in the fight against insurgents,
terrorists and all other forms of criminality. It is gladdening to
note that presently, local indigenes, youths and vigilantes are
actively providing the support through formation of specialised
community-based groups. Such groups like the Civilian JTF recently
apprehended top Boko Haram members and handed them to the security.
Prominent personalities, including traditional rulers, are now coming
out openly to disclaim and condemn the activities of the insurgents.
There is notable reduction of terrorists’ attacks, which in the past
were weekly occurrences, especially over the weekends, even outside
the prone areas of the North-East.
While we must urge other security outfits to brace up to the new
challenges of policing and protection of lives and property, as well
as calling on NEMA to timely provide relief materials to victims, the
military’s intervention in the war against terrorism should be
sustained till normalcy returns to the enclaves. The civilians
themselves and the media should be security consciousness and alert
relevant security agencies of suspicious movements, behaviours and
objects that could pose security threat to our national integrity.
As Nigerians, we should establish and sustain our supports and
relations with the response agencies, especially NEMA and the police,
and the military presence as a necessity to protect our people in
dangerous zones, pending when those terrorists with their well-armed
lethal armaments and sophisticated gadgets are completely uprooted and
eliminated from our national live.
Ola Lookman is a member of the Youth Against Disaster Initiative in Abuja.
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