A retired officer of the Nigerian Army and former federal commissioner for information and culture, Ibrahim Bata Malgwi (IBM) Haruna, 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 (ACF), who spoke on a television programme yesterday, 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 former general 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.
Speaking further, he said, “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 are not acting on intelligence which is 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 are paying so much money to bandits to free hostages”, he lamented.
