Expectations of Nigerians from new Service Chiefs
When in July, 2009 Boko Haram insurgents reared their ugly head through the North East of the country into Nigerian territory, little did the people know that the country was in for real trouble.
The first major strike by this terror group was in 2014 when 276 students of Chibok Girls High School in Borno State were abducted by these insurgents later identified as Boko Haram.
Majority of these unfortunate innocent girls till date are still unaccounted for fourteen years down the line. From then these heartless criminals had continued causing havoc in the country, with Northern Nigeria being the hardest hit.
The collateral damage caused by Boko Haram since 2009 is unquatifiable, ranging from loss of millions of lives to destruction of properties, which include critical infrastructures, displacement of communities and dislocation of economic and social amenities, among others.
Successive governments have battled this hydra-headed monsters called insurgents with little or no success.
The immediate past Federal Governnment, headed by a retired Army General, President Muhammadu Buhari incurred huge debt as a result of procuring hard military wares and equipments to tackle insurgency and other crimes with little result.
It is in this light that, most Nigerians have hailed the compulsory retirement of the old service chiefs and the appointment of the new ones by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces few weeks after his swearing in as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the country.
Notable amongst them are Maj Gen Christopher Musa, Chief of Defense Staff, Maj Gen Taofeeq Lagbaja, Chief of Army Staff, Rear Admiral E. A. Ogalla, Chief of Naval Staff and Air Vice Marshall H.B Abubakar, Chief of Air Staff.
These officers have been adjudged as the best thing that has happened to Nigeria in terms of military maskmanship, having successfully operated in virtually all theatres of war concerning insurgency in recent times.
No wonder Nigerians from all walks of life have applauded the decision of the President in appointing them to these top defence positions, describing it as worthwhile. They equally set an agenda for the new Service Chiefs for maximum results. Nigerians expect nothing short of rejiging the entire security architecture of the country for the better.
If according to them, the last administration purchased twenty tucano jets and the monster called insurgency was not killed, the current administration should double the procurement or even go for more sophisticated equipment/military hardwares to tame the incursion into the nation’s peaceful existence.
Pundits in security affairs have advocated for a more sophisticated and technologically driven approach to fight insurgency.
They even suggested more intelligence, networking or interface with other international security agencies and if need be seek assistance from friendly nations in the international community. To them, what is important is that the ugly trend called insurgency must be wiped out completely.
They lamented a situation where innocent citizens are now refugees in their own country, no thanks to these terror groups, which have overtime metamorphosed into other criminal groups such as ISWAP, boko Haram, Bandits and their offshoot manifesting as kidnappers, cultists, among others.
The nation is completely fed up with activities of these faceless groups and besides resources that are supposed to be used to develop the nation are channelled into solving social problems created by this unwanted visitor called insurgency.
We agree that as society gets more complex, crime and criminality equally get sophisticated and even want to overrun the society. Historically, it is not out of place to have multiplication of crimes and criminality at this stage of a nation’s development.
The western world had their own fair share of the ugly stages or dark ages as they were called.
There was a period in history when banditary held sway in the developing stage of European countries. So Nigeria is not an exception, but our prayer is that just as other countries overcame their dark ages, let Nigeria also succeed in exterminating the monster called insurgency.
We are of the opinion that if all hands are put on deck and all variables put in their proper perspectives, backed up with deserving political will, Boko Haram, Banditry, insurgency or whatever names they are called will be a thing of the past.
When to act is now.
