Concerned with the deteriorating state of security in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, this week, met with governors of the 36 states of the federation to find some workable means and ways of making the security situation better.
Convinced that the country’s apparently redundant traditional institution can be key to realising his promise to restore peace to troubled areas, the president called on the governors to work with traditional rulers and community members to gather intelligence to aid the work of security agencies.
The president, who listened to presentations by a governor from each of the six geo-political zones on their specific security challenges, said in the past, leaders of communities used to identify new comers to their area and passed information to the constituted authorities.
No doubt, several reasons have been advanced for the deteriorating security situation in the country but the president, largely and rightly, too, attributes the problem to “the collapse of the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and the cross border movement of weapons and criminals.”
The president is right because the scale of Gaddafi’s arsenal is still being evaluated by the United Nations, but all indications are that it was vast and sophisticated.
The more complex weapons systems are mainly of risk in the Middle East, because most West African criminal groups lack the expertise to make optimal use of the latest technology. But a large number of more common firearms were also amassed during Gaddafi’s 40 years of rule.
These firearms were sold, albeit for relatively low prices per unit, to many of the rebel or criminal groups in West Africa, including the Boko Haram in Nigeria.
Although, the president called on the governors to work with traditional rulers to boost intelligence gathering, it remains to be seen if the governors will and if the traditional rulers can still be useful in this regard.
These institutions have changed enormously in the past century in Nigeria, but equally the problems of security have also become complex and intractable.
Presently, the connections between chieftaincy and the various security organisations are mostly informal, but they are very regular and important nonetheless.
Agreed, in the past, because of the socio-political order operated, the traditional rulers were very useful. Clearly, it is in recognition of their usefulness in the past that the recent security problems in Nigeria have compelled Nigerians to look back and appreciate the role played by the traditional institutions in security maintenance.
Of course, the emphasis on community policing, which call seems to be increasing in loudness and acceptability, all point to a rising appreciation of the place of traditional institutions in the search for peace and order.
Some critics are of the view that traditional institutions are feudalistic, anachronistic and therefore irrelevant to our current needs.
However, despite the belief held by the president and some people that traditional rulers can help, some people think that, at this period of our efforts to engender national integration, lack of which threatens our corporate existence, institutions of traditional leadership, which encourage ethnic, instead of national interest, should be discarded.
Others, still, sound a note of warning on the danger of allowing traditional rulers wield undue influence in governmental affairs. This argument seems to be linked to the fact that some traditional rulers are, indeed, politicians wearing royal robes.
In spite of that, it can be safely argued that traditional rulers are seen by many as true representatives of their people, they are accessible, respected and wield legitimate powers and are, therefore, still essential in country’s political and security architectures.
In spite of some views which are against their involvement in public affairs, many Nigerians still cherish the involvement of traditional institutions in especially local governance and community affairs.
Thankfully, there are few attempts in place to make traditional rulers relevant at the state and federal levels. In the states, there is what is known as the council of traditional rulers, in addition to the existence of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. Traditional rulers have also been given ceremonial functions as heads of governmental and non-governmental institutions, such as chancellors of universities and other institutions of learning.
Yet, there is need to move beyond these ritualistic acts of recognition. The traditional rulers should be made more active in the protection of not only the values of their people, but also the lives and property of persons within their domains.
Shunning violent protests
President Muhammadu Buhari said this week that any act of hooliganism hiding behind lawful and peaceful protests would be dealt with decisively to ensure peace and stability in the country.
Since this is a time Nigeria needs peace, it can be said that this warning, handed down by the when he virtually declared open the Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference 2020, is apt.
Rightly, the president commended the Nigerian Armed Forces for their efforts at swiftly restoring law and order in during the large-scale criminality that ensued in the wake of the #ENDSARS protests.
The president said the #ENDSARS protests were sadly hijacked by hooligans to cause wanton damage to lives and property in many cities across the country.
Regrettably, the #ENDSARS protest is just one of the recent many situations of threats to national security. Another security crisis seizing Nigeria now is kidnappings for ransom. A year ago, the spotlight was on violent conflict between farmers and herders. Before that, it was Boko Haram. Even earlier, it was the tensions in the Niger Delta, and so on.
It is obvious that insecurity is the order of the day in Nigeria presently. This is not surprising because of the apparent failure on the part of the political leadership at the state and local government levels.
The situation leads to the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor. The political leadership at the state and local government levels, instead of thinking out-of-the-box to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor by seeking ways of diversifying the economy to open up opportunities for job creation, seems contented with the status quo.
The political leadership political leadership at the state and local government levels seems to be enjoying the state of inequality in the country because it provides them ample opportunity to have the poor manipulated by giving them stipend to get their votes during elections.
This high level of inequality and the exploitation inherent in it has made the poor people, among who are graduates, young and agile, to be disillusioned and disenchanted.
The resultant effect of this, some say, is the springing up of terrorist groups like the Boko Haram, armed robbers, kidnappers and bandits now terrorising the country.
However, as Nigeria lurches from one violent conflict to another, the country’s leaders become easily, and perhaps understandably, fixated on the latest manifestation of insecurity.
The larger problem, however, is that none of this will ever change unless the focus turns more firmly and consistently to the thread that runs through all of that upheaval and that is the failures of governance at the state and local government levels.
While the president genuinely tries to address this problem and institute good governance at centre, in most states of the federation the opposite is the story.
Therefore, Nigerian leaders need to reinvigorate and sustain a focus on getting governance right. That means ensuring better mechanisms of accountability for top officials and reducing corruption and other abuses that fuel civil discontent and violence.
Achieving greater accountability, which is the goal of the #ENDSARS protesters, civil society groups and common people, requires improvements in the way Nigerians are governed, ending corruption in especially official quarters and engendering of socio-economic and political inclusivity.
Nigeria’s leaders must take the initiative to tackle the structural problems at the root of the country’s violence. Failure will only increase internal instability that will radiate across many cities and borders and threaten regional and global security.
Already, more than two million Nigerians, a population as large as the nation of Gambia, are internally displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency with many housed in IDPs camps spread across the country.
Of course, it is ultimately up to Nigerians to address the issues of accountability and good governance, as many civil society groups are campaigning to do and they must do this as the president desires it to be, peacefully.
