Boko Haram – Issues On National Security

14 July 2011

editorial

The atmosphere of insecurity currently inflicted on the nation by the Boko Haram crises points to poor use of pre-emptive intelligence and a coherent strategy in the management of the security issues arising there from. The group has existed for years, quietly and with known preferences in belief and social practices.

Then something happened and institutions associated with State power became the target of its structured hostility and attacks. At the initial stage, Christians and schools offering Western education were not molested or attacked and this was considered curious for a group that is supposed to see these two institutions as its mortal enemy. With the continued exchange of hostilities between the sect and the establishment, the Federal Government applied a containment strategy that unfortunately led to the extra-judicial killing of its leaders. Today the nation quivers under threats of unknown coloration, with sundry mischief makers prancing forward to contribute whatever they can for reasons of their own.

The Federal Government has responded to the reprehensible killing of the group’s leaders by identifying and prosecuting alleged offenders. This is right and the legal process should be allowed to follow its course; as these men clearly went beyond their brief. A public apology has also been tendered, as demanded by Boko Haram; and by several state governments and former principal officers of government in some Northern States. These measures clearly demonstrates the Federal Government’s commitment to decent ideals of social justice and national stability, as well as a resolve to end the problem without compromising the integrity of the Federation. It is important that dialogue continues; and that reasonable demands from all aggrieved parties are treated with dignity and promptitude.

The other issues that have come up in the course of managing the security challenges arising from the spate of bomb blasts across the nation is the public display of incompetence, apparently driven by an incoherent strategy, by security agencies pretending to be searching for bombs in moving and stationary vehicles. Major highways and street corners, particularly in Abuja, are now taken over by check points and sundry uniformed personnel.

In every case their task is simple: to stop all motor vehicles and search them for bombs. At least, that is what the military personnel claim is their brief, when they stop motorists. We wonder, for instance, how many of them really know what a contemporary bomb looks like. This is without prejudice to their capacity as military personnel, because the conventional conceptions of what a bomb is today have long since disappeared. Anything from the headlamp of a car to the knob of the gear lever could be a bomb. We fear that our new-found bomb experts of questionable competence are out of their depths on this brief, as their search is limited to car booths and its contents.

This is the 21st century and technology has since been made to work for the rest of the world in the matter of detecting, and even detonating bombs of all hues. The current manual search, ever so incompetently done and with unpardonable waste of man hours, is out of date, out of tune with efficiency needs of today’s world, and totally limited in its ability to deal with the matter at hand.

Equally incomprehensible is the use of mobile, three wheeled convex mirrors to scrutinize the underbelly of vehicles entering big hotels and government premises. This is laughable at best. There are more efficient gadgets on sale all over the world today, some of them not bigger than a medium-sized bugger and designed to detect a bomb as you approach an establishment. Today, there is nothing to choose between the manual, time-wasting fondling of personal effects by barely literate military personnel and the shopping trolley performance of hotel gate keepers who have no training whatsoever in these matters.

While we commend the Federal Government for quickly responding to the security situation in the country, we must stress that the tension and incoherent maneuvers have lasted long enough. Faith in the emerging new government and commitment to core national values will be permanently jeopardized by a state of insecurity. The matter should be resolved now.

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