The expansion of the Nigerian Army from eight to 12 divisions by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has attracted commendations from various quarters, with some analysts describing the restructuring as strategic in turning the tables against the wave of insecurity ripping through some parts of the country.
The decision to increase the current divisions from 8 to 12, according to the government, is primarily intended to provide more boots on the ground to confront the multifaceted rioting across parts of the country, especially in the north. The proposed recruitment of 28,000 personnel for the newly created divisions has been applauded as strategic in the fight against terror.
More Boots
Even before now, the call for more personnel to be recruited into the nation’s defence forces has been a recurring decimal. The four new divisions, according to the presidency, is to comprise the 5th Division (Makurdi), which is tasked with addressing farmer-herders’ crises and armed violence in Benue, Nasarawa, and Kogi; the 9th Division (Ilorin), is mandated with the task of combating banditry and cross-border criminal activities in Kwara and Niger states; the 10th Division (Jalingo), is to secure the volatile borders and tackling insurgency in Taraba and Adamawa, while the 83rd Division (Benin City), shall focus on fighting oil bunkering, piracy, and local militancy in the states of Edo, Delta, and Bayelsa.
Since the primary purpose of the army is to defend the sovereignty of the Nigerian state by fighting external threats, the military’s engagement in internal security is often seen as an aberration rather than what it should be. Since Nigeria is not at war, some analysts insist that increasing the number of army divisions amounts to doing the right thing the wrong way. Only a few can dispute the sincere resolve of the Tinubu-led administration to defeat insecurity, but resorting to expanding the army amid declining government revenues could prove unhelpful.
Positives And Negatives
Undeniably, the expansion of the Army has the capacity to eliminate mutual suspicion and debunk perceptions of military dominance at the state and zonal levels. The new restructuring takes into cognisance the siting of new divisions to oversee areas that were far from army presence. In this regard, the new divisions are aimed at creating a military balance that enables a prompt, effective military response and avoids waiting hours or days before deploying the army to contain security threats. While it may serve the immediate need of welcoming such an expansion, the real deal is to aggressively deploy modern military technology that can provide intelligence to enable precise military responses to combat security threats.
It’s widely accepted that no nation can provide enough boots on the ground for security. Expanding the army as an immediate strategy may offer little help, but relying on the newly formed divisions to tackle rising insecurity could end up treating symptoms rather than the root cause. With the army strictly established to repel foreign military invasions through active combat, air-land integration, and strategic defence, the government must avoid any situation that makes the army a permanent feature in maintaining the nation’s internal security.
Extricating Corruption
The police, both uniformed and secret, should be allowed to lead the assault against internal insecurity. The uniformed and secret police should continue to provide intelligence to pave the way for inter-agency collaboration to inflict collateral defeat on the forces of insecurity. The whopping sums of funds to be spent on these newly created divisions could be used to recruit more personnel for the police and other ancillary security agencies to secure the country from criminals that operate internally without external collaboration.
Amidst allegations of inadequate funding for the police, many Nigerians, including this writer, have refused to agree that the problem of the police has been funding. The major problem with the police is tied to the cancerous corruption that has made the outfit function as it should not. The police, as presently constituted, should be a source of revenue rather than a drain on billions of naira every year. Nigerians must now ask: Where are the billions of naira that oil companies and VIPs pay to the police for security services? Providing internal security is not only the work of the police. We must demand accountability from the Nigerian Immigration Service that is expected to prevent illegal criminals from other countries from perpetrating insecurity. The safety of our borders is paramount, just as the Nigeria Customs Service must never waver in the seizure of firearms imported to destabilise the country. What ails the police is also the bane in the military. The government must fight corruption in the army and police headlong.
Modern Technologies
Since Nigeria is not at war with any foreign power, expanding the army is unnecessary for now. What is urgently required is the deployment of modern military technologies, especially Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), popularly called drones, to provide intelligence-led, precision-driven approaches to defeating the monsters of insecurity threatening the country’s corporate existence. Strengthening the country’s internal security mechanism is the immediate challenge now. So much funding is being appropriated for security every year. Still, the lack of accountability on how these funds are spent has turned defence budgets into a bottomless pit of corruption.
Amid the challenges posed by corruption in securing Nigeria, we must avoid the militarisation of our internal security to avoid the looming catastrophe. Providing millions of boots on the ground without strengthening other security agencies can only be an effort in the wrong direction. To win the war against insecurity, both the army and other security agencies must use modern technologies.
By Simon Reef Musa