National Conference Is Not An Option

Over the last six years, we have seen the result of one man gross incompetence, sycophancy, nepotism and how fine nations could be destroyed within a twinkle of an eye, it happens to America with the coming of Donald Trump, today; we are living witnesses to the failure of helpless integrity in solving insecurity challenges which has paralyzed this country in every sinew and every limb.

By the definition of a failed state, Nigeria is gradually teetering towards a failed state, security is not the only area this government has failed, but as in every other facets of our national life we are performing below our potential from education to economy, security to national cohesion, power to policy statement, among others.

Security, under the current administration has failed beyond tolerance, unless something fundamental is done to avert the worse tragedy looming , if not,  Nigeria will die if we keep pretending that she is only slightly indisposed.

In the last six years, banditry alone have killed scores of civilians and in recent months organized kidnapping have become the order of the day, with hundreds of Nigerians from villages, schools, markets , place of worship and motorways across the country are being kidnapped at every opportunity, with security operatives seemingly overwhelmed fighting many battles at the same time which has empowered the emergence of non-state actors across the country. By this yardstick, Africa’s most populous country is teetering on the brink.

Like never before, the country is in near collapse as her security’s establishment is being overrun by Boko Haram, bandits , kidnappers, armed robbers with scores of Nigeria fleeing their homes for safety with Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps springing up in every nook and crannies of the country, with no sign of resuscitation. It is a matter of time, before Nigeria would be on par levels with Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, and other failed states .

Even though, the future of Nigeria looks doom, in my honest opinion, I don’t see another wasteful national conference as the urgent step the country needs to take, to address these nagging questions requesting resolute answers. What happened to the report of 2014 CONFAB?

Instead, there should be emergency joint national assembly where the following issues can be debated , then passed into laws under emergency act without presidential assent. There is need for a referendum to be conducted across the country to debate whether the country should continue to forge ahead as one, or go its separate way, because it is happier, since the union is no longer working.

Addressing the current state of insecurity called for urgent concern, it would require a genuine reflection and all hands must be on deck before insecurities overwhelmed the state completely. It is obvious that the police, army and other securities apparatus are overwhelmed, and in no doubt, all the forces are exploiting the weakness of Nigeria security architectures where order must be granted from Abuja before decisive actions can be taken against the enemy of the state.

Unarguably, Nigeria police have outgrown its usefulness, all over the world; police are driven by intelligence with less combat but as it appears , the Nigeria police still rely on physical combat; therefore, there is urgent need for total overhauling of this force. As it stands, Nigeria police is like a dead child in the bathtub. The current insecurities require intelligent driven approach coordinated through bottom to top security pyramid, not this orbit security architecture that has outgrown its usefulness. Most of these wars have to do with more of police intervention than military.

More importantly, the current security architecture that domiciled operation control and command in Abuja is no longer effective, if we are to win these wars, there is need for urgent reforms of our security architectures. According to Global index, Nigeria has the lowest number of police per person in the world.  According to united Nation on homeland security, it appropriates three (3) police officer per citizen, but in the case of Nigeria, about 60% of Nigeria police are currently attached to powerful individuals, wife/concubine of politicians, helping them to carry handbag or escorting their spoiled kids to nightclub while large swathes of Nigeria territory are under the dictate and commands of criminal due to the absence of police.

Among other things, the joint emergency national assembly must  agree on the need for creation of state police and forest guard, each taking command and control from the state commands with joint operational codes and intelligence sharing among sisters state within the same region. This  will fast track cracking down of criminals from their hideouts. Such state police would require government wining the confidence and trust of her citizens through intelligence gathering, maintaining confidentiality, motivation and recruitment of locals devoid of any political undertone.

Also, the joint emergency national assembly must agree as a matter of urgency, total devolution of power. The current system is not working, we don’t have to pretend about it. For instance , our criminal and justice administration system requires a radical reform, and there is need for total decongesting of Supreme Court. The time taken to conclude trials or political cases sometimes often lead to miscarriage of justice, just as Festus Keyamo, SAN said, there is need for regional supreme court empower to tackles criminal cases emanated from each region instead of piling up files in Abuja.  When criminal cases are treated as one, it will deter others from partaking in it.

Also, the session must agree a six-year single tenure for the executives and three years, two tenure for non- executives with a single National Assembly. This  current system is wasteful with little or no impact. At the moment, Nigeria is a poor country, no need to pretend about it, the political elites must cut our coat according to our size, it doesn’t make sense that almost all our revenue goes to debit and salary service.

Conclusively , there is a need for national aspiration among all party built on a common cultural shock. The south and the north operate on a different cultural shock, if the country will move forward there is urgent need for establishment of national aspiration by the elites as we have it in saner climes.

With these, Nigerians would enjoy dividends of democracy which is more than capable of turning the country around.