South East Security Summit: What To Expect

Insecurity, as a social malaise in Nigeria, has become intractable in its various manifestations. The federal government, through the security agencies, has continued to commit resources, human and material, to confront what has come to be perceived as a hydra-headed monster with varying degrees of success, even with the application of the kinetic and non-kinetic measures of warfare

To be fair to the security agencies, sacrifices have been made and resources deployed. Still, much is yet to be done to attain the degree of stability the nation desires.

The South East Regional Security Summit is one of many government efforts to get to the root of this problem, which is adversely affecting other spheres of society.

Its theme: ‘Collaborative approaches to strengthening security and regional stability’ is apt, in our opinion, if due diligence and sincerity of purpose, shorn of wilful political intrigues, are applied in the deliberations.

Much as we commend the organisers for this initiative, we also point out that what is lacking is not policy thrust and direction, but the political will to apply the force against non-state actors, complicating the situation.

Be that as it may, this newspaper looks forward to a new direction in the management of insecurity in the country with hope. It is our expectation that this summit and any other after it will be able to cut the proverbial Gordian knot.

If anyone is serious about addressing insecurity in the south east, the first point of contact is resolving the Nnamdi Kanu saga, which has taken a political life of its own, considering the fact that similar agitations in other parts of the country have been resolved to levels that no longer constitute security threats. The government has sadly ignored the anxieties and genuine demands of the youths in the area who have painstakingly embarked on weekly sit-at-home exercises, not minding the economic and other costs. This points, in our view, to the insensitivity on the part of officialdom that is so inexplicable.

It also represents an obsessive misrepresentation of the position of the Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). Ezeigbo Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, of blessed memory, emphasised a viewpoint that remains completely understood: that Biafra, as a geographical entity, is no longer feasible. He said it and IPOB represents it that what is possible is Biafra of the mind- ingenuity, industry, productive enterprise and a patriotic Igbo nation thriving within an accommodating Nigerian state. Refusing to give this a thought constitutes a security challenge that urgently needs to be addressed.

Because of this failure to apply reason to the efforts to manage the agitations in the southeast, what has resulted is a deliberate assault on the so-called unknown gunman that has given rise to painful extrajudicial killings of Igbo youths. The summit that is being held in Umuahia, Abia state, today owes itself a duty to end the unwarranted slaughter of innocent and defenceless young men and women.

It is the view of this newspaper that unemployment among the young school leavers in the south east, as in other parts of the country, is a threat to security. In an environment where able-bodied youth, educated and intellectually profound, are left alone to fend for themselves any way they deem possible, is a veritable miscalculation that leads to cybercrime and other forms of malfeasance that no one benefits from. It is pertinent to stress, in our opinion, that job creation and gainful employment are handmaidens in the effort to check crime and criminality in the socio-economic space and, by so doing, ensure security for all.

It goes without saying that the excesses of politically exposed persons pose an aggravated threat to national security. When domesticated in the southeast, it becomes obvious that politics is no longer a tool for good governance and socioeconomic development but a source of stress, tearing at the very fabric that holds the nation together. We are by no means singling out the region for condemnation, as the malaise sweeps across the Nigerian state. The point to be emphasised is that politics has been deprived of its fine points and has imbibed some infelicities that are aiding and abetting insecurity in the country, not only in the southeast.

We recommend that this particular issue receive due attention at the summit.

We are worried that kidnapping is fast becoming an industry with a political hue. The summit should accept that, at the moment, it is an ill wind that is doing no one any good and suggest ways to extirpate it.

We understand that similar summits have been billed for the other geopolitical regions. We appreciate this drive to give Nigerians the opportunity to exercise, without fear or dread, their right to free movement and their God-given, constitutionally guaranteed rights and privileges.

Still, there is a nagging concern that has refused to be assuaged. And it has to do with the political will to implement recommendations by these august gatherings of experts and ebullient stakeholders who have been tried and tested. For us at this newspaper, this concern presents the puzzle even as we remain optimistic.