West Africa: Nigerian Defence Chief Picks Holes in Ecowas Protocol On Free Movement

Says Complexities in Nigeria’s Borders, Challenge to National Security

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Gwabin Musa has said that

complexities in the management of Nigeria’s borders are a challenge to our national security.

Gen Musa who spoke on the topic ‘Assessing the Current Security Situation in Northern Nigeria’ Friday evening at the Institute of Development Research and Training, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State, said Nigeria has 364 approved international border points and 1,497 other illegal migration points into the Country.

” Further to this, Nigeria is a signatory to the ECOWAS Protocol on free movement of persons, goods and services within the West African sub-region. The obligation to abide by the ECOWAS Protocol on free movement coupled with the nature of our border management, further instigates the challenges to our nation’s security. This has manifested in increased insurgency, terrorism and religious extremism, as well as the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, human and drug trafficking amongst others,” he alleged.

According to him, the underlying causes of these complexities in managing Nigeria’s borders could be attributed to the inadequacies in the implementation of frameworks for the border management systems as well as structures to adapt to systemic changes.

” Equally, the impact of these complexities on Nigeria’s national security particularly in the Northern parts of the country has brought to the fore the need to improve our border control measures and overall architecture to provide a more effective system that would improve the check of illegal entry through our borders. Thus, we need to continue our collaboration with political leaders and relevant stakeholders in the implementation of essential protocols and action plans towards strengthening our border management systems for improved national security.”

The CDS’s lecture covered the background to the current security situation in Northern Nigeria, the approaches to addressing the security challenges in Northern Nigeria, some identified challenges militating against the ongoing efforts and he suggested ways forward.

He said although the Armed Forces of Nigeria has had to grapple with some challenges, a lot of effort and resources have been expended to tackle them.

He explained that currently, “the military is engaged in various Kinetic operations all over the North and the nation by way of its Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency Operations, Internal Security Operations and combined operations. Some of these Operations include Operation HADIN KAI covering 3 states in the North East Zone, Operation HADARIN DAJI in the North West and Operation WHIRL PUNCH covering Kaduna and Niger States. Others are Operation SAFE HAVEN covering Plateau, parts of Southern Kaduna and Bauchi States and Operation WHIRL STROKE covering Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States as well as Operation Accord II, covering Kogi, and parts of Nasarawa state.”

He said despite the successes achieved so far, several challenges still affect the Armed Forces’ efforts towards curbing the various security threats in the Northern part of Nigeria.

“Currently, there is an erroneous perception of security being the responsibility of only the military. This has greatly affected the ability to address security concerns in the north. Similarly, some unpatriotic citizens continue to undermine the unity and security of Nigeria.”

“To ensure adequate security, all citizens must be involved in the business of security. Until this is internalized, the security agencies which are significantly less than one percent of the population will struggle to fill the massive gaps in the security architecture. The curriculum in our schools and institutions of learning as well as well as nurturing from parents and guardians must continually stress the importance of individual and collective civic responsibility to the safety and wellbeing of all. Individuals therefore need to watch out for the good of others and pursue well-defined national security interests.”

“Accordingly, people must be conversant with actions to be taken and who to report unusual occurrences to as part of their responsibility to national security. It is also important that institutions guarantee the safety of whistle-blowers and reward individuals who show high levels of patriotism and love for the country. As I have always said, those unpatriotic citizens fail to realize that there must first be a country before the issue of who governs where can be discussed (Gen CG Musa, 2023).It is therefore important for us to always see Nigeria as our country and continue to show patriotism.”

“Low human capacity index is another major factor affecting the security situation in the north. Human capacity index refers to the level of investment of a state in its people in terms of education, health and social services. According to the United Nations Development Programme, the current average Human Capacity Index for Nigeria is 0.548 with the states having the lowest Human Capacity Index in Nigeria being from Northern Nigeria. This indicates that the attention given to education, health and social services in this part of the country is quite low.”

“This trend in turn could be linked to the requirement for good governance and people-centric policies to enhance the socio-economic conditions of the people in the north. Achieving a high Human Capacity Index would therefore be underpinned by transparency, non-discrimination, minimized corruption and efficiency of governmental policies.”

“The seeming distrust in the relationships between government and the people negatively affects patriotism, and willingness to place common good over personal interest. It is in this regard that accountability to citizens across all strata of government remains paramount to ending insecurity in Northern Nigeria.”

“Slow Judicial process and a perception of lack of justice, fairness and equity amongst citizens within the country is also a major challenge. Although essentially contested, it is a multifaceted issue which has grown over time with delays in cases leading to frustration, disappointment and challenges in addressing systematic issues. For instance, the armed forces have thousands of apprehended terrorists and bandits whose cases are still not yet concluded in the courts.”

“Other issues such as seeming favouritism and inaccessibility to justice, particularly for the poor are also perceived to have affected the dispensation of justice in the society. These issues breed apprehension and dissatisfaction which in turn could cause unnecessary tensions. Therefore, it is essential to restore efficient processes to resolve disputes that may arise from the perception of injustice especially across the teeming youth population of the north.”

“This will largely assuage the citizenry to provide a feeling of belonging to the society. The perceptions of lack of justice, fairness and equity in the allocation of national resources have also been advanced as the reasons for some threats to our collective security in several instances.”

“Having highlighted some challenges militating against the effectiveness of current approaches by the Armed Forces to combating security threats, we shall now shift our focus to steps that can be taken to support the contributions of the military to address the mentioned security threats.”

” These include bilateral and multilateral arrangements as well as sensitization and reorientation of the citizens. Others are investment in human capital development as well as judicial reforms and public engagement and building the capacity of other security agencies. These are discussed subsequently.”

“The fluid nature of transnational criminal activities has made states seek security from each other by entering into alliances with each other. These military alliances and cooperation take the practical form of bilateral or multilateral operations. Such arrangements aid the exchange of personnel and facilitate liaison, intelligence sharing and standardization of organization, training and equipment.”

“The Armed Forces of Nigeria is already involved in some of such multinational operations. Notable among these is the Multinational Joint Task Force which was operationalized by Member States of the Lake Chad Basin Commission to jointly combat the mutual existential threats of terrorism in the region. Considering our porous borders and the negative effect it has on security, there is a need to expand the scope of such arrangements to cover other countries. Such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Central African Republic amongst others.”

“Nonetheless, we will continue to take necessary steps to ensure our diplomatic relationships are not completely strained, as this is a major prospect to tackle insecurity. Such bilateral and multilateral arrangements will continue to enhance the security of the nations across our Northern Borders and our dear nation,” he said.