One of the keys to ending security instability in the nation lies with the judiciary branch of the government, according to Major General Garba Wahab, Director General of the Nigeria Army Resource Center.
The country has been suffering from numerous forms of insecurity, resulting to the killings, abductions, and displacement of millions of its residents.
However, Wahab asserted that the judiciary must fulfill its duties to stop impunity while speaking on Friday at a two-day roundtable discussion in Abuja themed, “Asymmetrical National Security Challenges, the Army, and National Development.”
He stated that, “One of the ways to curb insecurity is that the judiciary must be alive to its responsibilities and the local government should be allowed to function.
Let the judiciary start doing its job. Because if they don’t, we’re encouraging impunity. People will believe nothing is going to happen to them. They will do whatever they like. There is one slide we use to show when we give lectures here. It is about an elephant that saw an antelope running. He said, Mr. Antelope, why are you running? Replied that they are arresting goats and they are taking the goats to court.
He said, ah! But you are not a goat, he said, in a Nigerian court, it will take 20 years for him to be able to prove that he is not a goat, that he’s an antelope. The elephant too ran. That’s what is happening. The former president mentioned it. It takes 10 years for a simple case of stealing to be decided in Nigeria.”
Wahab said that the country’s localization of security would aid in the eradication of certain crimes and that local security administrations should be allowed to operate effectively.
“What we are asking those in government to do is to find a way of ensuring that the judiciary and local government are allowed to function well. When you allow local government to function, then you can localize the security architecture.
“We should go to the battalion level because these battalions serve the state and so they relate with the state and local government. We shouldn’t wait till we get to divisional headquarters whenever there is a problem. Divisional headquarters in most cases busy attending to five or six States”
according to Prof. Okey Ikechukwu, Executive Director of the Defence Space Agency, the round tables is aimed at creating a new narrative by helping Nigeria’s diverse publics recognize and understand their respective obligations in the larger national ecosystem of coordinated security.
“We will use the round table to re-emphasise the specific and general roles of the military, particularly the Nigerian army, in the cocktail of structures, activities, and processes that constitute the national security architecture,” the DG said.
Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, the Chief of Army Staff, issued commands to field commanders and soldiers instructing them to be innovative and adaptable in order to bring the nation’s enemies to their knees.
This came as he urged the commanders to be more creative, emphasizing that the country was going through a more turbulent and complex time than it had ever encountered.
Furthermore, he urged them to bring peace and stability back to sections of the country that are struggling with security issues.
He further said that among other security issues, Nigeria is now dealing with banditry, terrorism, and kidnapping.
