How Private Sector Bigwigs Can Fight Insecurity

An alliance of Private Sector Players in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised N100 billion to support Nigerian security agencies to fight insecurity in Nigeria. This was disclosed recently by the chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Mr Tony Elumelu at a UBA board meeting. We recall that at the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, a similar coalition raised funds to fight the pandemic in partnership with the CBN, raising over N60 billion to provide interventions, food and vaccine support to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the Nigerian economy. These private sector bigwigs have now resolved to fight insecurity by providing security hardware to the security agencies. With the intervention, the coalition hopes to open up the Nigerian economy once more. According to its spokesman, the bigwigs have just put together N100 billion to empower the security agencies. Sadly, the problem of insecurity isn’t solely lack of funds. Insecurity in Nigeria is dogged with connivance, lack of will to enforce law and religiously motivated chicanery. Given that many states are too poor to maintain state police forces, creating regional police forces goes a long way in combating insecurity. Of the various intelligence agencies we have like National Intelligence Agency, Department of State Security, Directorate of Military Intelligence and Defence Intelligence Agency, none has reported an accurate impending breach of intelligence concerning kidnapping, banditry or Boko haram. This is because each of them had been infiltrated by insurgents. Moreover, There isn’t any consensus among our leaders as to the eradication of insecurity in the land. For instance, a feature was recently sponsored on a tabloid concerning jailbreaks. It says Nigerian are sharply divided on the shoot to kill order by the Minister of Interior. The minister gave the order to security agencies on persons who break into prisons to free inmates. It is inconceivable to us that some Nigerians are standing to protect criminals who shoot their ways into prisons to free convicts. But that’s what it is. Some Nigerians want insecurity to continue for best reasons only known to them. Another reason why money and arms alone cannot curb insecurity is the recent revelation that Brigadier General Aminu Kano Maude, the former Director of Finance, Army headquarters who stole all the money former President Goodluck Jonathan allocated to buy munitions to the Army to fight Boko Haram. General Maude used the money to buy #0 Petrol Filling Stations; buildings and shopping malls all over Nigeria. It took the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) more than five years to trace the loot. The money was over N20 billion. The EFCC has been able to recover 29 properties worth N10 billion. They are still discovering more properties. When caught while alive, EFCC could neither detain nor prosecute him because he belonged to the Fulani Ruling caliphate of Kano Emirate. It was after he died of cancer that the embezzlement was made public. Such issues of corruption and impunity show moneys collected by bigwigs will go the way of embezzlement with impunity. Therefore, the solution for ending insecurity is the enthronement of a new leader with the mindset of ending insecurity and who has the willpower to call the Armed Forces to order. The current crop of leaders even among the business bigwigs and the 22 Committee are not interested in stopping insecurity, they’re just jostling for what they can gain from insecurity. The money being amassed is to be used to scuttle the emergence of a visionary leader in order to propagate embezzlement with impunity.