Insecurity: Judiciary, porous borders frustrating our efforts -CDS

From Femi Oyelola Kaduna

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa has said that efforts being made by the military to end terrorism, insurgency, and insecurity generally especially in the Northern part of Nigeria have been frustrated by the judicial system and poor border management amongst other socioeconomic challenges.

General Musa noted that the security situation in Northern Nigeria is complex and characterized by multiple challenges mitigating against efforts of the nation’s military’s readiness and effectiveness to bring insecurity to an endurable end in the country.

The Defence Chief spoke on Friday night in Zaria as the Guest Lecturer on the topic “Assessing the Present Security Situation in Northern Nigeria”, at a one-day Dialogue organized by the Institute for Development Research and Training (IDR&T), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.

However, the CDS said the military in the conduct of its operations has engaged itself in the kinetic and non-kinetic aspects in a bid to positively resolve its operations, disclosing that traditional use of force has been complimented with the non-traditional approaches such as civil-military relations and civil-military cooperation.

According to him, “Despite the successes achieved so far, several challenges still affect the Armed Forces’ efforts towards curbing the various security threats in the Northern part of Nigeria.

“These challenges include complexities of border management as well as the erroneous perception of security as a task only for uniformed personnel and a lack of patriotism. Others are low human capacity index and perception of lack of justice.

“Slow Judicial process and a perception of lack of justice, fairness, and equity amongst citizens within the country is also a major challenge. Although essentially contested, it is a multifaceted issue that has grown over time with delays in cases leading to frustration, disappointment, and challenges in addressing systematic issues. For instance, the armed forces have thousands of apprehended terrorists and bandits whose cases are still not yet concluded in the courts.

“Other issues such as seeming favoritism and inaccessibility to justice, particularly for the poor are also perceived to have affected the dispensation of justice in the society. These issues breed apprehension and dissatisfaction which in turn could cause unnecessary tensions.

“Therefore, it is essential to restore efficient processes to resolve disputes that may arise from the perception of injustice especially across the teeming youth population of the north.

“This will largely assuage the citizenry to provide a feeling of belonging to the society. The perceptions of lack of justice, fairness, and equity in the allocation of national resources have also been advanced as the reasons for some threats to our collective security in several instances.

“Equally, complaints of oppression and unjust treatment by individuals and groups will need to be revisited to give them closure. Furthermore, specific reforms to allow for special courts to address only cases on terrorism, kidnapping, treason, and other similar cases to aid speedy trials could be considered and set up.

“Such courts could also allow the military to prosecute those cases it is involved in only in such special courts. To this end, a sustained effort from government, civil society, and citizens will be required.

“Nigeria has 364 approved international border points and 1,497 other illegal migration points into the Country. Further to this, Nigeria is a signatory to the ECOWAS Protocol on the free movement of persons, goods, and services within the West African sub-region.

“The obligation to abide by the ECOWAS Protocol on free movement coupled with the nature of our border management, further instigates the challenges to our nation’s security. This has manifested in the increased insurgency, terrorism, and religious extremism, as well as the proliferation of small arms and light weapons ns, human and drug trafficking amongst others.

“The underlying causes of these complexities could be attributed to the inadequacies in the implementation of frameworks for our border management systems as well as structures to adapt to systemic changes. Equally, the impact of these complexities on Nigeria’s national security particularly in the Northern parts of the country has brought to the fore the need to improve our border control measures and overall architecture to provide a more effective system that would improve the check of illegal entry through our borders.

“Thus, we need to continue our collaboration with political leaders and relevant stakeholders in the implementation of essential protocols and action plans towards strengthening our border management systems for improved national security”. General Musa said.

He concluded by adding that, “The security situation in Northern Nigeria is complex, as it is characterized by multiple challenges exacerbated by socio-political influences that combine to impact on the Armed Forces of Nigeria’s readiness and effectiveness.

“The Armed Forces of Nigeria in the conduct of its operations has engaged itself in the kinetic and non-kinetic aspects in a bid to positively resolve its operations. The traditional use of force has been complimented with non-traditional approaches such as civil-military relations and civil-military cooperation.

“The overall objective is the restoration of peace and security in Nigeria while winning the hearts and minds of the general population. Though the Armed Forces of Nigeria has had to grapple with some challenges, a lot of effort and resources have been expended to tackle them.”