Ever since the unfortunate incident of Chibok kidnap of over 200 school girls , the issue of insurgency and insecurity in Nigeria had become the topical issue all over the World with protesters and prominent world leaders every where demanding for the release of the school girls.
Of course this is because the world is now a global village and terrorism and international challenge even as Nigeria is not an island to be left on its own.
I have followed various debates and arguments for and against foreign aid/assistance being offered to Nigeria especially as regards to rescueing the innocent Chibok girls and taking the battle back to the camp of the dreaded Boko haram sect.
In as much as the various schools of thought on this subject matter tried to convince one another and the general public as there is always two sides to a coin, however we have to apply caution especially as it affects our territorial security, integrity and the psyche of our military men and women.
Sincerely speaking, the Nigerian military like lecturers in Nigerian universities are among the the best in the world today despite the fact that they lack basic facilities , training and exposures like their counter parts in the developed and developing countries of the world.
Our military are known to perform gallantly well in peace keeping operations and indeed celebrated all over but only to go back to their base to perform abysmally poor because of the ‘Nigerian Factor Syndrome’.
Accepting foreign military aide in whichever form it may come is not the best option or good enough for the country for whatsoever reasons and justifications the proponents or its supporters may have. If the operators of the Nigerian state from independence to date had done what they ought to have done at the right time perhaps we wouldn’t be in this quagmatic situation now and there would have been no need or reason to look unto foreign powers (who indeed in disguise are our real enemies) for assistance.
Boko haram is a local creation (though now internationalized by the inability of the Nigerian state to curb it at the beginning) and infact politically created (forget the fact that it deviated into religion as it got out of the hands of its creators), and as such requires local solution and politics to resolve it. The simple truth is to muster the Political Will Power to tackle it.
I have listened to pro-government commentators who seemed to understand and appreciate the disadvantages of foreign military aides but quickly justified it by saying the foreign aides are coming in the form of Intelligence and Survelliance.
We still puncture these excuses and reasons advanced because our DMI (Directorate of Miliatry Intelligence) and the intelligence units of all our security organisations are poorly equipped with obsolete equipments , trainings and most of all poorly renumerated and motivated.
These challenges are real despite the huge allocations in the budgets meant for defence and security of our country.
It is only in Nigeria that no one takes responsibility for laxity or failures and no one is fired or removed from office for non performance and a good example is the case of interior minister whose inepitude cost the lives of our unemployed youth yet nothing happened.
It is only in Nigeria that bombs and other banned but dangerous items are searched for manually , thus causing a very long traffic jam and inconveniencing both the civilians and the military.
It is only in Nigeria that pro-active and preventive measures are not taken till calamity happens because the intelligence gathering mechanism is not in place.
It is only in Nigeria that you have military Generals who never fired a gun shot all through their service but became a General because of quota system.
It is only in Nigeria where the best brains of the military are retired prematurely because of primordial reasons such as Tribe,Religion and Ethnic background. We can go on and on but that is not the focus of this paper.
We have many retired and serving intelligence officers in the military who are still dynamic and strong enough to help out in this situation rather than dancing naked before our enemies abroad.
All our military and other security agencies need is the procurement of modern military hardwares and gadgets to work with, motivations and periodic trainings and exposures from those who are giving us the ‘fish instead of teaching us how to catch a fish’
Our military and security operatives are doing their best with what they were given. To whom much is given much is also expected and vice versa.
Finally, it must be stated that US and UK especially the US are not the best of our friends and we should stop pretending.
Moreover,these world powers are not charity organisations or father christmas. There is always a BARGAIN and ECONOMIC and POLITICAL INTEREST attached to their aid.
They often leave their footprints wherever they go. North Africa and Middle East are just few examples.
Dr Pizzarow Promise is a research fellow and a specialist in Conflict Management and Resolutions and can reached via : [email protected]