Insecurity: We’re paying so much money to bandits – Gen. Haruna

Ibrahim Bata Malgwi Haruna, a retired officer of the Nigerian Army and former federal commissioner for information and culture, has decried rising insecurity in the country, noting that the entire security architecture needed to be overhauled.

The retired military general noted that a situation where the government now has to negotiate with bandits and terrorists was unacceptable, as according him, the country is paying so much money to the terrorists which is helping to fuel insecurity.

General Haruna who was reacting to Tuesday’s attack on Kuje custodial centre by terrorists who freed several Boko Haram insurgents and other hardened criminals, noted that there is no longer a clarity to the functionality of roles among security agents.

The former chairman, executive council, of Arewa Consultative Forum who spoke on Arise TV on Monday, said, “Our security needs overhaul; Insecurity is a disturbing issue. It is like the collapse of our building edifices. We have 27 security agencies, but we have got into confusion.

“The problem begins with the failure of the military. But principally, the police are responsible for internal security and the political leadership has the duty of constitutional responsibility.

We have this problem where the army is the first line of security, such that there is no clear delineation of responsibility. There is no clarity as to functionality of roles now. Our security needs to be overhauled and brought into line with constitutional provisions.”

The former military officer noted that part of the problem is that political will to tackle the challenges seems to be lacking, while expressing hope that the next administration will do better.

“There is no political will to discharge security duty, because this government is so dysfunctional to arrange security according to the constitution and in line with competences and contingency for maximum performance,” he said. “We cannot have the army and the navy doing police work.”

Speaking further, he said, “There are moles and I don’t know what is going on. Accountability in defence spending is not peculiar to defense, it has to do with the way we function. What about justice, NNPC, FIRS etc. Things are not being done properly.

“We should not wait until things break down or it is too late before we act. The challenge is, we not acting on intelligence which are even public until there is fire. It is a never ending debate about Nigeria.

“We are a secular nation and politics should be done to ensure peace and stability, but religion can be used for negative purposes and should guard against it. We don’t have an effective government if we are negotiating with criminals and terrorists.

“It is so unfortunate that we paying so much money to bandits to free hostages.”