NATIONAL SECURITY: IF THE PRESIDENT MUST TRANSFORM

President Goodluck Jonathan said his administration passed in the last six months. Of course, he didn?t include national security matters. But he submitted that a blueprint for the development of agriculture was one of his achievements; he did in the course of his latest presidential media chat. No one can quarrel with the president over agriculture and a blueprint. And Dr Akinwumi Adesina is the man that gave the president something to point to in that direction. He is the Minister of Agriculture, and the gentleman had arrived the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting one day with a lorry-load of loaves of bread. He gave loaves to all and sundry. Each loaf was made mostly of cassava. He wanted cassava to become a larger part of the nation?s flour content. It would boost employment and create a value chain, he added as part of his argument at the FEC.

The president was appropriately impressed on that occasion, and in the spirit of sharing, he tore a part of his loaf of bread and shared with his Vice President. He in turn dutifully took and chew for Nigerians to see. And President Jonathan had since said he too would eat bread made of cassava throughout his days in the presidential villa. Critics suggested he should dedicate himself to the eating of cassava bread for the rest of his stay on earth. Dr Adesina should not have all the credit for this achievement in agriculture however; more of it needs to go to the president who saw him and brought him to corridors of power. Now in the face of an agenda that the president said is transformational, as well as his promise to Nigerians that he would not disappoint them, it is important to call attention, this early, to what should help make his transformation agenda achievable, especially in the area of national security.

The president held a meeting of the National Security Council after the Christmas Day spate of bombings. His men came out of the meeting to inform Nigerians that the president had taken some decisive decisions, and that citizens would hear from him shortly. The president did address Nigerians, and he declared a state of emergency in selected local council areas in three states in the North. This situation, it was said, would remain in place until security conditions improve in the affected areas. One of the president?s men made more clarifications: Declaration of a state of emergency was to give security forces power to curb the activities of bombers. He pointed out that if terrorists operate in the concerned local council areas and people are silent about their presence, then the security forces need to make such areas uncomfortable for the criminals. And in the event that terrorists move to other locations, the state of emergency would be extended to such places too.

Yes, the president did what was not widely expected, at least something not mentioned much in public discussions in more recent times. It was a decisive step that was long overdue anyway. But was that the only direction the president could go? If anything, this latest step in combating terrorism has given the government one more reason to justify its bill for security that has been criticized for being larger than the bill of some other vital areas such as employment generation, education and health. It now has a reason to claim that throwing more money at a problem that is much deeper is the way to go.

The problem bedeviling the nation?s security is fundamental, and the step taken to tackle it should have gone deeper. Would it make sense for instance, to surmise that the latest security challenge has proved to be one that wakes the national security operators from their slumbers? The police is especially a problem. It has refused to move on with modern trends, and when terrorists, the Boko Haram type came into operation, there was an initial apparent confusion among those who should see clearly for Nigerians. If bombs would explode at Nigeria police headquarters, Abuja, and the top hierarchy argued in the public space, and for days, over whether it was suicide bombing or otherwise, and if foreign investigators brought in took nothing away because all finger prints had been wiped out with the careless post-incident handling of evidence even at police headquarters, then it is bold statement on how that force is run. Careless administration of a crime scene repeated itself after the December bombing in a neighbourhood in Kaduna metropolis. With a system that runs on analog, and minds that are programmed to run on analog, managing the nation?s security system in an age when terrorism is trans-border, and the tactics have become more strategic and more sophisticated, the step that the president took amounts to coming up with new operational plans while the operators remain as they have always been.

One would have thought that with the bringing of the Plateau state crisis under the command of the office of the Chief of Defence Staff, there would be some calm in that direction. And with the pouring of more men into the Borno-Yobe state area, as well as the arrest of a supposed high-profiled backer of terrorists an end would have come. But the spate of bombing has increased instead. That says something. Here there are top administrators of security outfits who talk of achieving rather than achieve. If Agriculture has not been handed over to someone with fresh ideas and who knows how to go about achieving them, there will be no Agriculture sector that the president can tick of as an achievement. And if the banking sector has a Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who only wishes rather than act and achieve, the nation?s banking sector would have since been in more serious crisis.

The view of this writer has always been that officials who don?t get agencies under them to achieve have no business being in offices. Imagine a high school principal who watches until the roofs of all the classrooms are blown off, the walls collapse and he too is forced to sit under a tree, then the picture is clear of what kind of Director Generals and Chief Executive officers these nation has. And it is the rule rather than the exception. The question has always been: if a school principal would watch until school structures dilapidate, then what is he administering? Gone are the days when school principals invite parents and plan to ensure that both school and students look good ? irrespective of whether the government does something or not. Mr President cannot be everywhere to daily run agencies. If those he places over such agencies do not have an understanding of what it means to administer and bring results to the table, then they should go. This applies to the nation?s security sector where non-achievers appear to be treated with kid?s gloves at the moment. If the president must achieve his transformation dream, he has to be courageous enough to fire whoever he hires, and to ensure he has in place only those who would work and deliver, rather than give excuses.

** Tunji Ajibade is Communications Consultant. tunjioa@yahoo.com

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Source: http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/79290/1/national-security-if-the-president-must-transform.html

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