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By Frank Oshanugor
A former Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) Dr. Nnamdi Naps Okonkwo has condemned the recent hasty establishment of a regional security organization known as Ebubeagu by Southeast governors.
Speaking exclusively with SECURITY REPORTERS.com on Wednesday, Okonkwo who is currently the Managing Director of Boyson Nigeria Limited; a security consulting firm pointed out it was wrong for the Governors to wake up and form a security outfit without following the necessary procedures laid down by government.
According to him, there are rules, regulations and standards approved by the Federal Government as to how a security organization can be formed. First and foremost, is to find whether any of such procedures have been followed by the Southeast governors to establish such an entity. You do not establish an entity in a vacuum. There are rules. We have an agency of government responsible for the formation of security companies and approval of their request after having gone through the necessary hurdles with the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security departments of government before the final approval is given by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) under the auspice of the Minister of Interior.”
He described the Eastern Security Network and Ebubeagu as two organizations that do not have a common purpose and ultimately are of no use to the people of Southeast. According to Okonkwo, the two security organizations which emerged without due process and already opposed to each other are birds of the same “chemical nomenclature that would congregate within the same proximity.”
The former NSCDC chieftain explained this to mean that in terms of how they came into existence, both outfits are the same but in terms of people’s oriented purpose and objectives, the two are lacking because “any house that is divided against itself must fall.”
Speaking on the recent news that some Nigerians soldiers were informants to Boko Haram fighters, Okonkwo pointed out that in every system where there is war or semblance of it, there is usually counter -intelligence. “If Boko Haram has a better counter intelligence and has penetrated the Nigerian Army, it will be too bad for the military. It means we do not have an army. Otherwise, what I see happening within the Nigeria army is nothing other than a fight in the army, by the army, in government, for government and by government. Therefore, they will always be in disarray and constant loss of personnel in the event of security operations.”
To the Boyson boss, the recent appointment of Service Chiefs has not brought any significant change in the direction of winning the war against insurgents. In his words, “since the insecurity situation has not been any less, I do not think that the appointment of the Service Chiefs has been of any benefits to the federation because the appointment in itself lacks merit, their system of operation lacks coordination.”
Justifying his position, Okonkwo said “I cannot see any synergy in the system amongst the entire Force formation in Nigeria. They lack that coordination of intellectual resource data base which could have been put into a multi dimensional approach to addressing the insecurity Nigeria has, as a country.”
Commenting on the recent bombing of Nigerian Correctional Service centre Owerri and Imo State Police Headquarters by gun men, the security chieftain said the attack portends a very great danger. According to him “when levels of Insecurity have risen to a particular height, it tends to choke the people and people are therefore constantly not willing to get involved in what will choke them. So they unleash terror in the system in disagreement with the administration.” This is what happens most times especially on close nit security system.”
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