Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, yesterday revealed that Boko Haram members held in prisons across the country still carry out their criminal operations through the help of some prison warders.

General Musa made the disclosure, yesterday, during the sectoral debate with service chiefs organized by the House of Representatives at plenary in Abuja yesterday.

At the parley, the service chiefs gave reasons the security agencies appeared to be under-performing, their challenges and how to overcome and secure the country.

The service chiefs present included Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, General Christopher Musa; Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt-General Taoreed Lagbaja; Chief of Air Staff, CAS, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar; Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla; and Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.

The House had rescheduled the meeting from last week to today after the security chiefs could not appear for the debate in person.

Boko Haram plan operations from prisons with aid of warders

According to Musa, in the North-East, while debriefing some of the Boko Haram elements, they confessed how from the prisons they could plan operations and pass funds to the field through the help of some prison warders.

He said: “They passed funds across and we asked how. They told us they use some of the warders. We are not saying all of them are bad, but they use some of the warders’ accounts to transfer money and the deal is anybody whose account it is transferred shared it 50-50. Those are the challenges.”

Armed forces under-funded

Speaking further on purchase of equipment, Musa lamented that the high dollar rate had hampered the purchase of relevant equipment needed to fight insecurity.

According to him, all the items procured are bought with hard currency, none in naira, and that most times when funds are converted, only very little could be bought.

His words: “We don’t produce what we need in Nigeria and if you do not produce what you need, that means you are at the beck and call of the people that produce these items.

“For example, during the last regime, about $1 billion was set aside for defence procurement. Out of that amount, over $600 million was for the procurement of aircraft. So, the whole money had gone.

“So many times when people see that funds are being released to the armed forces, they think it is so much but by the time you convert them to dollars you do not get much.

“One precision missile for our drone costs $5,000. So imagine how many we would be able to use and how many we can procure. So, those are the challenges.”

Leveraging new military tech, AI 

He said there is need for the Armed Forces to leverage emerging military technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and robotics.

Musa said: “Similarly there is need to exploit the contemporary global shift in the utilisation of space technology and cyber warfare for national defence and security. 

‘’We have initiated the process of establishing a joint cyber warfare intelligence command where such emerging technologies will be exploited to enhance the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

“Security is not only the responsibility of security forces. Everybody has a responsibility to play. We cannot be everywhere. So, we need education and sensitisation programmes to educate Nigerians that security is everybody’s responsibility. 

‘’If you see it, you talk about it. You just don’t keep quiet and say it is for the Police. Everybody has a role. In our neighbouring countries, if you enter there as a visitor, I give you 30 minutes, they would know you are a visitor. Before you know it, the gendarmes are after you.

“People tend to think it is not their responsibility. We are not magicians. We need to have a system where we train from schools, let every Nigerian understand that they should take ownership of security.

Good governance, best weapon against insecurity

“We have realized that the magic wand to address insecurity is good governance. Anywhere you have good governance, insecurity goes down. The security forces can only produce 30 per cent. We can only provide an enabling environment. If other aspects are not addressed, it is a problem.

“People can’t eat. People are hungry. No matter how you tell them to keep the peace, they will not because they have to eat and it aids criminality. 

‘’So, we must have good governance and everybody should have belief in the country that this is their country.”

Activities in Judiciary as factors

He also fingered delayed prosecution as a challenge in the war against insecurity, adding that some terrorists found wanting had not been prosecuted. 

His words: “For keeping them for a lengthy period, people are accusing the Armed Forces of keeping them against their human rights but we cannot prosecute. 

“I have been in the North-East, there were a lot of Boko Haram elements that were captured and kept. We have kept them for five or six years. We in the Armed Forces cannot prosecute; we can only provide protection for them.

“Another aspect of the judiciary is this, you take risks, make an arrest, you hand-over, but before you enter your vehicle, the man has been released. Now you have risked yourself in doing that. 

“By the time he is released, he goes to tell your family members that you are at risk. So, it gets to a stage where the security forces are not even willing to do anything.”

Ekpa, a threat to security in S-East, Nigeria 

On the South-East, the CDS stated that Simon Ekpa had become a serious threat to the country,  adding that the government must act fast, diplomatically, to tame him.  

“Simon Ekpa has become a menace to this country. The country must act on it diplomatically. Finland is having a free way encouraging him to be doing what he is doing. His utterances and actions are affecting what is happening in Nigeria.

“We should never allow that. Our foreign service needs to step in to address the issue. It is either we invite the ambassador or somebody. They must explain why they are protecting him. He is doing us more harm with his utterances. A lot of people are being killed. We cannot sit back and keep quiet.”

Troops’ challenges – CAS 

On his part, the Chief of Air Staff,   Hassan   Abubakar, outlined challenges hampering the Nigerian Air Force from attaining its operational objectives. 

The challenges include rising cost of aviation fuel and introduction of surcharges.

According to him, the situation continues to worsen with the cost of Jet A-1 fluctuating at N1,150 per litre, against the budgeted N360 per litre.

He said there is need for an intervention fund for the Nigerian Air Force as an independent importer of Jet A-1 fuel to sustain air operations.

He also lamented delays in release of funds for procurement, noting that about 85 per cent of Nigerian Air Force capital budget is for procuring military hardware abroad.

“Since hardware by original equipment manufacturers are time-bound, delay in budget funding may lead to late delivery due to late payment. Timely disbursement of approved funds would surely solve this challenge,” he said.

Complexity in targeting terrorists  among populace

He also identified the problems of terrorists living among the populace and Nigeria’s porous borders. 

“The Nigerian Air Force’s kinetic operations are supported by credible intelligence to minimize undesired casualties. 

“The country’s land borders, including those with Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Togo, spanning about 4,000km, are mostly insecure and poorly manned. These porous borders exacerbate arms proliferation and illegal movement of people and goods, which contribute to the problem of insecurity and further enable insurgents to operate freely.”

On manpower challenges, given the recent acquisition of new platforms, he and a three-year sustained training plan has been put in place beginning from 2024, “as long as the National Assembly expeditiously facilitates smooth passage of our increased training and operations requirements.”

Police operating in difficult environment – IGP Egbetokun

For the Nigeria Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun  said that the Police were operating in a very difficult environment with inadequate manpower, noting that he met a battered force.

“The United Nations Police ratio of 1 to 400 is not attainable in Nigeria as of today. The ratio in Nigeria is one to 1,000, which suggests that we have to double the manpower.

“We have 1,537 police divisional headquarters across 774 local government areas. But getting operational vehicles for the divisions is difficult. Each of these divisions requires at least four functional patrol vehicles. But we have divisions which don’t have any patrol vehicles as of today.

“Training in the police is still inadequate. The welfare of personnel is nothing to write home about. Funding is critical to achieving the mandate of the Nigerian Police. Unfortunately, the citizens are not interested in our excuses for under-performance. They want us to serve them. We are ready to serve them. We need your cooperation. We need funding. We need more manpower.  

“In spite of these inadequacies, the police have been doing so well. We have been doing our best to protect lives and property across the country.  No agency can perform beyond the limit of resources available to it.  

“In the last five months, we have made a lot of arrests. We have made a lot of recovery of illicit weapons. Some of these suspects are undergoing prosecution, as we speak. But no amount of arrest that we make will solve our security problem. 

“It is   not possible to arrest all the criminals and recover all the weapons. But within the environment we function, the police have done so well and we are still doing so much.

“We appeal that Nigerians should please support the police. We are implementing community policing strategies in all our communities. We want to take into consideration the peculiarities of each community in the strategies that we employ in policing a particular community.  

“Recently, I announced the establishment of a special intervention squad, a standby unit of at least 1,000 men in each of the states. These men will   be specially trained. They will be specially equipped and remunerated and ready for deployment at shortest notice to any area of the country where there   are crises.  

“This way we intend to join the military in fighting terrorism in the North- East; armed banditry in the North-West and North-Central; kidnapping, and armed robbery across the country and ensure that we reduce violent crime in our country to the barest minimum.”

Speaking earlier during his opening remark,   Speaker Tajudeen Abbas said that for the 10th House, the sectoral debate marked a significant milestone in the implementation of its legislative agenda.

“The sectoral briefs will provide us with an opportunity to scrutinize the policies, activities and plans of each MDA. It will also allow the House and members to understand better the challenges facing government agencies, their programmes and areas for legislative interventions,” he disclosed.

He said further:  “Let me emphasize from the onset that appearance in person for all invited heads of MDAs are required throughout this sectoral briefing. As such, the House shall not accept proxy representation for any reason whatsoever. Notices are sent well in advance to forestall any excuses.’’

Insecurity’ll soon history in Nigeria, says defence minister

However, the Minister of State, Defence, Bello Mohammed Matawalle, assured that the insecurity bedevilling the country would soon be over.

The minister, who gave the assurance while speaking to newsmen at his Maradun town residence, Zamfara State, said the ministry had procured helicopters and other fighting equipment, to fight banditry, insurgency and other criminal activities in Nigeria.

“In fact, the Federal Government, under President Bola Tinubu, made arrangements for what is needed to fight insurgency, banditry activities and all sorts of crimes in the country,’’ he said.

According to him, a few days after their swearing-in as ministers, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu gave them a marching order to rid the country of insecurity.

He added:  “I assure you that the issue of insecurity in the country would be history because very soon our military will commence manufacturing their weapons in the country.”

Matawalle said he had inspected the military equipment provided by the Federal Government to security personnel, especially the Army, adding that what was being awaited was a positive result.

Meanwhile, civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has called on President Tinubu to declare a national emergency on kidnappings across the country.

The rights group, in a statement, said the federal and state governments should come up with a framework for the declaration of kidnapping as a national emergency.

HURIWA also stated that the 36 state houses of Assembly and the National Assembly should consider amending the relevant criminal laws applicable and then pass a uniform law recognizing kidnapping as a capital offence and set up special courts to fast-track trials of cases of kidnapping. 

The rights group urged state governors to stop observing moratorium on the execution of convicted persons tried under capital offences, such as kidnapping.