Banditry In Nigeria: State Police As The Solution

 By Dan Amor

In September 2011, yours sincerely was amongst media executives invited to grace the World Press Conference organized to mark the 23rd anniversary of the creation of Akwa Ibom State. In attendance at the conference were the Voice of America (VOA), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Le Monde of France, major radio and television stations, major Nigerian newspapers and magazines, and three Editorial Board members. 

It was hosted by the Executive Governor of the oil rich Niger Delta State His Excellency Obong Godswill Akpabio. That was before he defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in which he is now Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs. At the conference, this writer was privileged to speak on the emerging state of insecurity in the country. As at then, the major security threat Nigerians had to contend with was the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East. 

When States (Nations) Fail

By Hope Eghagha

The high command of Nigeria Army and Nigeria Police must be or should be in deep embarrassment about the whole incident. The Federal Government also ought to be worried by the incident because it is one too many in our recent history. No credible steps have been taken so far to reassure the nation of order across.

There is an increased disrespect for law, order, codes of social behaviour and engagement. Perhaps the government and its institutions are overwhelmed by the depth and scope of atrophy which the nation currently battles with. Which itself is frightening. Whether by default or design there is a script for doomsday being acted out. Are the actors aware of the enormity of the challenge that we face? Is the nation going for broke?

Nigeria: A Vote For State Police

By Ike Ekweremadu

The National Security Summit initiated by the Senate kicked-off on Thursday, February 8, 2018 with a clear pro-state police/decentralised policing disposition by the presidency.

In a speech delivered on his behalf by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, President Muhammadu Buhari said: “The nature of our security challenges is complex. Securing Nigeria’s over 923,768 square kilometres and its 180 million people requires far more men and materials than we have at the moment. It also requires a continual re-engineering of our security architecture and strategies…. We cannot realistically police a country the size of Nigeria centrally from Abuja. State police and other community policing methods are clearly the way to go.” 

This is a cheery paradigm shift coming from the presidency and recently from the Governors Forum.

Resolving The Herdsmen Menace

By Dennis Brown James

The Federal Government’s passive condem­nation of the killings and mayhem unleashed by Fulani herdsmen across the federation re­cently is not what is required to douse the ten­sion and apprehension in many quarters in the country today.

To say that this carnage has led to a severe disruption of our national economy is a mere understatement. Apart from the fact that many communities have been sacked, abandoned or now live in perpetual fear of imminent attacks, many farmlands have been obliterated with scores of farmers killed.

The Federal Government under the leader­ship of President Muhammadu Buhari should reach a consensus with all the warring parties on how to nip these mindless killings in the bud before it is too late to do so.

The pockets of reprisal attacks and counter attacks witnessed in various communities that were affected in these tensions are an indica­tion that this might snowball into national chaos that might leave Nigeria’s national fab­ric badly affected and threaten her corporate existence, to the consternation of many of us. The activities of the herdsmen may still bring about the previous bookmaker’s prophecies that Nigeria will disintegrate in 2015.

Nigeria’s Dangerous 2015 Elections: Limiting the Violence

By International Crisis Group 

Africa Report N°220



21 November 2014

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Nigeria’s presidential, parliamentary and state gubernatorial and assembly elections, scheduled for February 2015, will be more contentious than usual. Tensions within and between the two major political parties, competing claims to the presidency between northern and Niger Delta politicians and along religious lines, the grim radical Islamist Boko Haram insurgency and increasing communal violence in several northern states, along with inadequate preparations by the electoral commission and apparent bias by security agencies, suggest the country is heading toward a very volatile and vicious electoral contest. If this violent trend continues, and particularly if the vote is close, marred or followed by widespread violence, it would deepen Nigeria’s already grave security and governance crises. The government, its agencies and all other national figures must work urgently to ensure that the vote is not conducted in an explosive situation as this could further destabilise the country.

President Jonathan with Vice-President Sambo 
and PDP Chairman, Muazu

Nigerian elections are traditionally fiercely contested, but in 2015, risks of violence are particularly high. This will be the first nationwide contest essentially between two parties – the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) – since the return to civilian rule in 1999. While a genuine contest is a welcome sign of progress for Nigeria’s democracy (thanks to the emergence last year of the APC, a merger of the four largest opposition parties), increasingly acrimonious relations between the two parties could engender even fiercer clashes among their supporters once campaigning formally starts in December.