The security situation in Nigeria is, to say the least, worrisome. Nigerians have never witnessed such a high level of insecurity in the country. The Federal Government has been doing its best to improve the security situation, but its efforts are yet to produce concrete results.
So far, the government’s purchase of modern warfare equipment is quite appreciable. In the last quarter of 2021, it took delivery of the final batch of 12 A-29 Super Tucano fighter jets from the United States. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, then announced that the jets had positively changed the course of the war against terrorism, with the Nigeria Air Force recording success in its operations.
Another dimension in the insecurity is the targeting of security personnel by insurgents, bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements.
It is sad that those who are fighting to safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians are daily sacrificing their own lives.
On July 24, 2022, at least five soldiers attached to the Presidential Guards Brigade were killed in an ambush by suspected terrorists in the Federal Capital Territory.
Available data also indicates that non-state actors killed at least 65 police officers in the first half of the current year, as the security situation in Nigeria continued to get worse. At least 92 security operatives were killed during this period. They include 81 soldiers, two correctional service officials, two National Drug Law Enforcements officers, five officers of the NSCDC and two FRSC officials.
The killings spread across the country, but they were mostly carried out in the South-East, North-West and North-Central geo-political zones. These zones collectively witnessed many attacks by various armed groups during the period.
While communities in the North-West and parts of the North-Central have been repeatedly attacked by bandits, the South-East has endured a series of attacks from the self-styled Eastern Security Network (ESN), the presumed militant wing of the, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), as well as other armed groups.
We believe that since security personnel daily operate in an environment that is fraught with risk and grave danger, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive insurance scheme for all security agents involved in the anti-terrorism campaign.
There should also be adequate provision to fall back on by the wives and dependents of security personnel should anything untoward happen to them, which is part of the hazards of the profession.
Lack of adequate training and training facilities is a conspicuous problem militating against the effective performance of the security agencies in the country. This, by extension, has contributed to the poor rating of Nigeria’s security personnel, especially the police, on a global scale.
Physical appearance of a policeman, for example, is of utmost importance. Police uniforms are meant to further project the image of the police through identification. To regard the material worn by some policemen in Nigeria as uniform is to do monumental injustice to the word. Those faded clothes on some of our police officers cannot qualify as police uniform at all.
Our position is that security personnel will be more effective if they are provided with adequate welfare and so there is a need to emphasise the need for stakeholders to be concerned about the welfare of security personnel as a way of addressing the rise in criminality in the country.
A good housing policy and a good welfare programme should be a natural package for security personnel. Sad enough, this is not the case in terms of office and residential accommodation (barracks), salaries, allowances, incentives, insurance and promotion.
If we truly want effective security, we have to be concerned about the welfare of our security personnel. We have to provide a conducive environment for them to work. We have to cater for their welfare. They should be able to compete with their counterparts in the advanced countries of the world.
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