SHAMSIDIN ABDULLAHI TO FG; BE MORE PROACTIVE ON SECURITY CHALLENGES
As a former member of the Federal House of Representatives of the National Assembly, Hon. Shamsidin did not disappoint his constituents.
In this interview, Hon. Shamsidin talked about the security situation in the country while also, commending the security personnel for their bravery.
He advised that the government needs to be very proactive and at the same time take into consideration the historical narratives of what the causes to these problems are.
Excerpts:
The security challenges across the country is said to have overwhelmed our military and many have advised that Nigeria seeks external help.
Sir, do you agree with this school of thought and if not, what is the way forward.
In regards to your question on security, the ongoing debate on security by experts suggest so, that our military and security outfits have been overstretched and some officials within the heirachy have advised the president on the need to seek external help while some other experts suggest otherwise.
I personally do not believe in this school of thought. Nigeria have participated in a lot of military peace keeping efforts in west Africa, Sudan etc in the past with resounding success. Our military have performed very well in the past and are at the moment performing extremely well considering the numerous challenges they are faced with in today's fight against insecurity.
It is said we have an estimated 300,000 military personnel in Nigeria with a population of over 200 million today with a 3% annual growth rate in population from the 2006 census count. The question is, will it really be feasible for 300,000 military personnel to handle the protection of Nigeria's sovereignty and at the time handle domestic challenges like banditry, cattle rustling which is the sole responsibility of the police.
The architectural structure of the security operations in Nigeria fall truly in the hands of the president as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces. I will want to argue here that the government needs to be very proactive and at the same time take into consideration the historical narratives of what the causes to these problems are. Funding of the security outfits has never been a problem for the past and present governments, the national assembly to the best of my knowledge have always ensured that funding requirements for these security outfits have always been met.
The problems can be argued to be;
1. Lack of government's officials and political leaders to allow constitutional laid down rules to work in the absence of constitutional amendments especially to the 3 tier of government.
2. The abuse of power by the governors who make the second building block in the administration and development of their states and citizens as the 2 tier of government. The abuse of powers to make laws that are in contradiction to the existing constitutional laws created by the law makers in the state houses of assembly add to already existing security challenges. Like the laws passed on cattles ranches which restricts the free movement of a certain groups of people who have rights of freedom to movement and economic activities creates friction within the society.
The creation of AMOTEKUN as a security outfit is also another unconstitutional creation of the south west governors through bills passed in the state houses of assembly which also contradicts existing constitutional laws with powers of security to the president alone.
3. The idea that our security personnel have been stretched and cannot effectively and efficiently deliver on overcoming these challenges can be argued to be false.
Funding by leaders are sometimes the reasons why security operations fail to execute on their missions 100%.
Like I argued, funding to the security outfits by the National Assembly has never been short but the challenge here is the release and execution by the federal government and the leadership of these institutional security outfits. Why can't the government properly recruit more people and train them to strengthen the personnel of the security outfits to fill in the gaps? Why should state governors recruit vigilantes as an outfit towards providing security within the society when some of these vigilantes are accused of being partners in progress in the insecurity saga?
Why can't the governors partner with all the security outfits and support them financially to employ chosen hands with good track records to help sanitize the forces and at the same time, improving the security architecture? The political office holders should try to balance the diversities that divides us. Azikwe's view on our differences, should be forgotten to build a new charter to a new Nigeria based on secularism. Sardauna's view on our differences, should be understood to accommodate each other irrespective of our differences.
60 years into independence we are still engrossed in the debate on religion and ethnicity which is the fundamental right of all citizens as enshrined in the constitution and, overlooking the same constitution that gives all Nigerians the fundamental rights to economic inclusion, education, health and safety. This is the only way that we will start addressing the open access to recruitments into criminality.
There is growing hunger in the land owing to the insecurity situation. The poverty rate is daily increasing and there doesn't seem to be hopes of the situation improving soon. As a result, many have taken to prayers.
Sir, Farmers are lamenting over these challenges and there are fears and apprehension of a looming famine. As a farmer, what do you think can be done to nip the impending crisis in the bud and save the country and the people?
Agriculture once played a very critical role in Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings and at the same time, provided food security and income for its citizens. Nigeria is today, a mono economy highly dependent on oil and gas for its earnings today and the financial institutions have all moved away from agriculture to investment in oil and gas.
One may argue that the growing hunger in the land is not caused by the insecurity situation in the land but it is a contributor to the growing hunger in the land. The 3 Tiers and 3 Arms of government in Nigeria, over the past 20 years of uninterrupted democracy have never bothered to concentrate on developing its model of economic growth.
Nigeria is still at its pretake off stage 60 years after independence. We don't produce anything for export and still export our raw materials including oil for export. When electricity that propels the economy is unavailable to be sustainable and unbearably expensive for both industrial and domestic use today, how will the agro manufacturing industries sustain the production of raw materials by the farmers to produce goods for mass consumption?
Unemployment is one of the causes of poverty in Nigeria. There is no source of income and income distribution to many Nigerians across the country and this has contributed to the insecurity situation in the country with recruitments of youthful Nigerians into criminal activities.
Prayers, without action by all stakeholders is like working without pay. The government must be able to expand the opportunities for farmers by providing land, finance and modern equipments to improve high yield per hectare and consolidate on the areas where insecurity poses a threat to agricultural production and ensure our ability to be food secure.
Acquiring education in the north today, has become challenged especially now that schools have become targets for criminal elements. Stakeholders have expressed their fears noting that the situation is capable of further dragging the region backwards.
What is your take and, if asked, what do you think the government can do to salvage the situation?
Education is the bedrock of any society's economic and social development growth. Acquiring education is not only a challenge to the north but Nigeria at large. The quality of education given to our children from primary to tertiary level, is far below standard. Yes, the quantity level of those out of school is far higher in the north, compared to the south, but the quality of education even in the south is far below standard in a sovereign country like Nigeria and this is something any responsible government will be afraid off.
The North has always been dragged backwards; thanks to the failure of the states and local government councils whose major priorities has nothing to do with the development of the people and region. The excessive powers of the governors on the Local Government Councils, the State Assemblies and the Judiciary cannot be over emphasized in understanding the root cause for the failure of education in Nigeria. The primary focus of the local councils has always been to support critical sectors of the economy which includes agriculture, education and health and just like the North suffers in the hands of the governors, the South too suffers in the hands of their governors when it comes to funding these critical sectors at the grassroot. The lack of a comprehensive plan that will guide the state governments in the actual sense, will always be doctored to score political points rather than ensure it reflects the real situations whereby, the government will intensify its efforts towards the inclusion of members of the society into schools at all levels and, ensure standard quality education is provided for at the barest minimum cost, even within the private schools.
The Nigerian economy and its currency, the naira are daily plunging downhill with many expressing fears that the currency; the Naira, may hit close to a thousand naira to the US Dollar in the not too distant future.
What is your view on this and, again, how can the slide be checked?
As far as the Nigerian economy is concerned inflation and the fall of naira against the dollar, unemployment, criminality will never be resolved until we agree that privatization or deregulation and mis management of resources, and lack of planning including bad leadership are the root causes of our problems and until we get our youth engaged in employable services, produce raw and finished goods in excess to export and spend in areas where we can generate taxes the Nigerian economy will continue to dwindle and retrogression in all sectors of the economy will be the order of the day.
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