Introduction
Groups such as Boko Haram appear to have
taken centre stage in the daily security/insecurity narrative in Nigeria’s
media space. We hear of their impending attacks on innocent citizens and
perhaps government alike, we also hear government’s guarantee to its public
that they should not be afraid, as the government will protect their lives and
properties. No one would expect a
government to state otherwise, irrespective of its ability to back its
statement. Interestingly as well are
statements from various personalities of perceived repute across the country
which try to control or spin the narrative in order to give birth to more chaos
or achieve their own ideological or political aims. I have heard some link Boko
Haram’s menace to the increase of resource derivation formula for resource
producing states to 13%, while others have blamed it on the elections in 2011. I
believe and will explain why Boko Haram and all other groups are the offspring
of a single phenomenon: The failure of government at all levels. Now it is
important to understand that this statement is not an indictment of the current
government alone because government is a continuum and the seeds of this crises
were sown in previous governments while this government perhaps watered it a
little by not deploying the appropriate instruments at its disposal in order to
begin resolving the matter once and for all. There have been various
intermediaries or purported intermediaries who seem to want to intervene or
bring demands from the group to the government for a negotiated settlement. While I think these suggestions might be noble
irrespective of the various agendas its participants may have, I believe the
government should not take this bait as this would create precedence and
elevate one group of citizens above another in their minds. Boko Haram and other groups arose from
government failing in their sacred duty and only a return to these duties can
these groups be extinguished.
Securing the lives and property of its
citizens is the foremost duty of a government. Creating a conducive environment
where its citizens flourish in peace is another duty of government to its
citizens: A perception of equal opportunities for all citizens only helps
reinforce these in the minds of citizens and prevents seeds of any kind of
rebellion. It is the absence of these that have fueled groups such as Boko
Haram and the likes. The absence of development in their lands, the absence of
opportunity, the absence of hope, perceived injustice, and most importantly,
the perception of negligence by government are the toxic mix that help such groups
flourish. I believe our intelligence
units, especially from the state security and the police would have this
information, but then again perhaps the units at the local government level
haven’t been equipped with such assets due to lack of funding, training or
both.
The current approach to dealing with these
groups by training special operation groups and deploying only military
instruments is counterproductive and will certainly sow more seeds of discord
by amplifying the rhetoric in the minds of the people in the affected areas
that the government really perceives them as enemies. My suggested approach is
to deploy several instruments concurrently: a hybrid of divide and conquer but
the main difference being rather than crush with military might, the crushing
is done with ideological and economic might. The output is change in perception
which increases security and indirectly allows government to fulfill its duties.
The instruments that I suggest the government
deploy concurrently are of the following classes: military/security, political and economic.
Military/Security
instruments
I begin my suggestion with the use of
security instruments available to the government to achieve the following
goals:
·
Restoration of order (albeit somewhat)
·
Positive intelligence gathering
·
Support of more viable instruments
Restoration of Order (Albeit Somewhat)
The introduction military instruments to deal
with the fallout of the Boko Haram issue going out of control should have been
to restore order only. I am not sure what the current operational objective and
strategy of the troops that have been deployed in the affected areas might be,
what orders ground commanders have been issued from operational headquarters
and what orders they have in turned received from the political leaders. Be
that as it may, if the objective and the means being used to achieve it project
any perception other than allowing people to be able to live without fear of
harm, then the deployment would have only achieved in sowing more seeds of
discord. The minimum use of lethal force
and the friendly posturing of troops achieve more to restore order than any
aggressive posturing combined with scorched earth and brazen destruction of
lives and property. Troops deployed in
these areas must be made to understand the short term and long term objectives
of the deployment, the political and economic impact of each operation. They
are not fighting against enemies but against fellow citizens whom the government
intends to re-engage into society, hence the need for minimal loss of lives and
property, and the avoidance of undue harassment and intimidation. Confidence is restored only when the minds of
the people are at rest from fear of harassment and intimidation by security
agents. This helps to keep the people
safe and in turn ensures the safety of the security agents.
Positive Intelligence Gathering
Another reason
to deploy security instruments in this case is also to build and gather
intelligence about the different factors that birthed the crisis. I guess most
of this information is already in the public domain but there are probably
other elements that such exercise can unearth. In the case of book haram, it
appears that either the intelligence gathering apparatus was nonexistent, or
the intelligence provided was ignored. Either way, at this point in the
process, the correct intelligence gathering resources and infrastructure need
to be put in place so that it can help in effective deployment of other tools
available to the government. My favored
focus will be the socio-economic conditions of the people in the affected
areas, the prevalent local narrative, and their perception of the boko haram
crisis as a starting point for creating counter doctrine to stem the spread of
the ideology if any and prepare a plan to deploy economic instruments to
improve socio-economic conditions. Intelligence gathering will also help create
a profile of the foot soldier of the sect with the objective of identifying
possible foot soldiers for counter doctrine exercises and reducing their
numbers so as to isolate the leadership. Without foot soldiers, the leadership
will crumble. In addition a profile of
the leadership and their ideological drivers also helps de-fang the movement
because, the ideological drivers are the tools for recruitment and propagation
of ideology, hence it is essential that these are identified, countered , in
order to also influence other members of the movement that the premises on
which they are built are no more true. This exercise can also help identify any
political elements that took advantage of the situation of the crisis for
nefarious gains, and also help the government deploy tools to counter this
occurrence.
Support
of more viable instruments
The use of military/security tools are
meant to help the government identify and deploy more viable instruments at its
disposal that achieve both short and long term stability in the affected
regions. Having deployed troops to restore some order in the area and built in
intelligence infrastructure, it is important that the government at all levels
identify and deploy economic and political instruments that will surely bring
lasting peace to the affected regions. The economic and political instruments I
suggest are discussed in their respective sections. The security instruments
will help ensure that when these other tools are deployed, they are deployed
correctly and the gains are built upon.
Economic
Instruments
One of the prevailing factors that allow
people in the region affected by the Boko Haram crisis is the dwindling
economic fortune of the region. Perhaps
this is as a result of corruption in many guises or the improper deployment of
the wealth and allocation within that region or failure of the administration
at the local and state levels. Be that as it may, the most important thing now
is to ensure effective deployment of existing economic tools that would spur
development and addition of new tools to enhance economic outlook. The following are my suggestions:
·
Enhance utilization of existing
state and local government allocation
·
Increase education grants and
investments (a student loan program for post secondary could work)
·
Create economic research
institutes in the educational institutions in the region with offices or reps
in LGAs
·
Invest and support local
private enterprises through loans and business support units
Enhanced Utilization of Allocation:
I believe that
financial intelligence units should work with states and local governments in these
regions to enhance the utilization of allocations provided the state and local
government respectively. The premise of
course is that these governments have the best interest of their people at
heart and just need some assistance in the case of best practices in allocation
utilization. This will help ensure that
the current economic situation is improved at the grassroots level (the
breeding ground for such unrest), and decrease disenchantment based on
misappropriation. Focus should be on
providing the basics such as good water, healthcare, roads and power supply in
these regions. This places a perception
in the minds of the people that they are not being left out and counters other
narratives that promote otherwise.
Increase Education grants:
Increasing
educational opportunities for people in the affected region will certainly help
show them the various career paths that they can aspire to take and dissuade
them from being enchanted by those intending to use them as cannon fodder. All tiers of government should work with
private sector to invest in these programs and inspire hope and possibilities
within the minds of the citizens in the region. Loans can be provided to
students based on merit and other factors that may be relevant to specific area,
decreasing the burden o n poor parents that may not be able to send their
children to school. This increases the
esteem amongst the people, families and units, ensuring they believe that they
can make it on their own having been so empowered.
Create Economic Research Institutes
The objective of
deploying this tool is to generate information on the economic activities and
outlook of different sections of the affected region so as to provide economic
intelligence that will help in decision making and future allocation of
resources and new instruments. It will also provide feedback which can be used
by businesses and other elements of the society alike to make better decisions.
Investment in private enterprise and
provision of Business support units
An economic tool that is also useful is
investment in private enterprise and provision of business support units. An investment bureau that
provides the people with loans and advice that help them realizes their
entrepreneurial dreams is a hope building exercise as well as an economically
liberating one. Business incubation
teams could also help monitor the business as it grows. The benefits of successful enterprise will
spread across the region and help employ hands that may otherwise have been idle.
Political
Instruments
The use of security and economic
instruments help restore normalcy and promote hope and ambition respectively in
the hearts of the people, but the use of political instruments by the
government will go a long way in cementing the normalcy, hope and ambition the
previous instruments provided.
The political instruments I suggest are justice
and protection of human rights.
Justice
The Boko Haram episode can be said to have
been fueled by the rounding up and extra judicial killing of members and their
leader, Sheik Yusuf Mohammed in an episode of brazen disregard for law and
order by the people who are meant to uphold it. I saw a few clips online and it
was horrible to watch. It sent a message to the people that they were expendable
from the point of view of government and nothing will happen to the culprits.
If the government responsible for providing security of life and property
decides on its own or via its agents the right to take lives at will, then such
insurgencies are going to arise all the time. However, if the government
ensures that there is always justice for the man who doesn’t take up arms, the
man would not believe he needs to be armed to the teeth before his cause is
listened to or his pleas are heard. When any person, irrespective of position
commits a crime, the person should be made to go through the established
justice system to determine his/her fate.
This Boko Haram case in particular, should have the police officers who
shot the members as well as those who watched without stopping their colleagues
all tried in the court of law for the various offence in the criminal code that
may apply. It is important to understand
that this is not bowing to the demands of the Boko Haram group, but the minimum
requirement of any government that upholds law and order and expects peace to
reign.
Justice prevents rebellion and it also
prevents citizens from taken it upon them to exert what they may view as
revenge for any crime committed against them.
Protection
of Human Rights
The funny thing about this point is that
one wonders why governments do not see its people as a resource whose rights
should be protected. As valuable as the oil in the deltas of south are the
human resources that are gifted to the nation. It is the job of a good
government to find ways to unearth the talents within each human resource and
protect their rights to live in dignity and peace while contributing their best
to the entity nation to which they belong.
I believe if the government considers the
few instruments I have suggested and the manner of deployment of these
instruments, the issue of Boko Haram and other elements with the same
characteristics will be greatly minimized if not eliminated.
It is about time we focus on de-fanging
Boko Haram and focusing the national narrative on something more productive.
This piece represents my two cents contribution
to the nation in crisis
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