Popular lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has bared his mind on the state of security in the country.
“It is the constitutional duty of the police to maintain internal security in the country. The armed forces are empowered to defend the country against external aggression. If you are going to involve the armed forces in the internal maintenance of law and order, the police must have been overpowered and at that stage, the president will go to the National Assembly for permission to deploy troops.”
“Right now, the armed forces are scattered all over the country contrary to the provisions of the constitution. So the military right now is overwhelmed by the responsibility that is conferred on officers and soldiers.”
“Not even in the military regime were soldiers mandated to deal with internal security as is the case today. The armed forces cannot cope with the additional responsibility of maintaining law and order in every state.”
“Apart from waging the counter-insurgency operation, it is clear that over the years, the Nigeria police have been rendered impotent due to a lack of adequate equipment, training and motivation.”
“In the circumstance in which we have found ourselves unless the National Assembly appropriates fund and monitor the disbursement to prevent criminal diversion for the purpose of equipping the armed forces and the police, there is no way law and order would be restored soon. Beyond the change of guard, we must also address other challenges.”
“Do we have enough soldiers and police personnel to guard the country? Right now, in the night and day, bandits are kidnapping children, including primary school pupils. I think we have gotten to the stage where the Niger and Kaduna state governments would have to close all schools, for now, to allow for the opportunity to review the security arrangement in every school.”
“So, those schools would have to be manned now by security operatives. Apart from asking for ransom, the criminal elements are also waging a war against education in the northern part of the country. “
“Recently, an American was kidnapped by a gang of bandits in Niger State. The US Government studied the situation and with the deployment of drones, the bandits were located and the citizen was rescued. It was such a disgrace for a sovereign nation.”
“The hands of our government were tied by incompetence. It is not unusual for countries to assist each other. I am of the strong view that the Federal Government has no option but to collaborate with countries that are willing to assist us.”
“The mistake that state governors made was in 2003, when despite the provisions of section 214 of the constitution, that there shall be only one police force, the National Assembly was allowed to pass the bill for the creation of the civil defence. The state governments should have taken the creation by that law to demand state police, but the opportunity was lost.”
“State governments must now make their own security arrangements otherwise, what we are witnessing in some parts of the country will be a child’s play. Because the governors have abdicated their responsibilities to share police powers with the president, the entire Nigeria Police Force is administered and controlled by the president alone. That is one of the reasons why we are in a crisis. The authorities in Abuja decide how many police officers should be sent to the states.”
“These are decisions that should be taken by the Nigeria Police Council. The president cannot appreciate the level of insecurity in every part of the country but state governors would be able at a meeting of the Police Council, to state what the security situation is in their states.”
“The governors must insist on regular meetings of the Police Council. What about Police funding? Funding of the Nigeria Police has been addressed by the National Assembly as far back as 2018 through the Police Trust Fund Act.”
“By virtue of that law, 0.05 per cent of the profit of all corporate bodies in Nigeria shall be remitted to the Police Trust Fund. I am aware that deductions from the federation account commenced in 2019.”
“You may, therefore, want to find out why that fund deducted from the federation account and remitted to the Police Trust Fund is not utilised to equip and train the police.”
“With respect to the Armed Forces under the Buhari administration, apart from the annual budget of the Ministry of Defence, a special allocation is set aside for the procurement of arms and ammunition for the Armed Forces. The National Security Adviser, General Babagana Monguno did say last week that the equipment procured could not be located.”
“Notwithstanding the denial later, if you read the transcribed version of the interview, you will agree with me that it was very clear that there was no basis for his denial or misinterpretation.”
“In other words, the $1 billion appropriated for the procurement of arms and ammunition will have to be accounted for, otherwise, the commitment of the Federal Government to the security of the country will have to be questioned.”
“It’s not enough to say that under the Buhari administration, money cannot be diverted. Money is being diverted on a daily basis by some unpatriotic elements. What I expect the government to do is to invite the EFCC to investigate what has been bought with the $1billion special allocation.”
– Source: VANGUARD