THE CHALLENGE OF INTERNAL SECURITY & IMPLICATIONS FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Being a speech delivered by Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, OFR, at the Annual Reunion Public Lecture of Obafemi Awolowo University Muslim Graduates Association of Nigeria (UNIFEMCA), Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria on Saturday, 19th May 2012 Protocols:
1.

Introduction:

What is the function of the state? What are the contractual obligations between the state and the citizenry? To what extent should the state be involved in the lives of citizens? What is internal security? What is, and should be the relationship between the state and citizens? Are there constitutional provisions that guarantee the safety of lives and property? Is government aware that the most fundamental function of the state is to provide citizens security, a good sense of well being as well as an atmosphere conducive to human and institutional development? Therefore, what is internal security? How does internal security correlate with, or impact on national development? Ladies and gentlemen, as we gather to explore these concepts and seek answers to this grave national conundrum, I wish to thank you for inviting me to be a Guest Speaker at this distinguished occasion. I feel proud to stand before this gathering of men and women, who are not just adherents, but highly enlightened Muslims striving to balance religious doctrines with the demands of today s contemporary environment and conflicting values in a multi-religious society like ours. The theme of this public lecture is quite auspicious as it is coming up at a time when the issue of internal security and its effects on growth and development has dwarfed virtually every other discourse in our polity. One thing that cannot be debated is that tackling the challenges of internal security should be the priority of government. The government owes every Nigerian security of lives and property. It is then and only then, that we can we begin to talk of national development.

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This gathering is a valuable opportunity to critically review what is really behind the current spate of heightened insecurity across the country. What are the remote and immediate causes? What are the implications for national development? And how can we pull Nigeria back from the abyss?
2.

What does Internal Security entail?

Before embarking on any detailed discourse, it is important to define the concepts we will be talking about. Internal security refers to the act of maintaining peace within the borders of a sovereign state or independent territory. Internal security is attained by upholding law and order and by securing the state against internal security threats. Threats to internal security may include low-level civil disorder, crime, organised violence, or even an armed insurgency. The duty of maintaining internal security falls on the security establishment - intelligence agencies, police, paramilitary forces or even the military. When any political environment faces turbulence, it may have grave consequences for the state if concerted efforts are not made to get to the root of the challenges and stem the tide. If the leadership falters in quickly tackling the challenge of internal security, the cumulative multiplier effects could have chaotic consequences on the entire system. As we have seen in Nigeria for the past decade or so, threats to internal security may be directed at citizens or the organs and infrastructure of the state itself. Attaining a sustainable internal security requires a combination of factors, such as good governance stemming out of astute political leadership, effective policing (preferably community-policing), impeccable intelligence gathering, equitable justice system and significantly also, to a sound economic base. On the other hand, development is a process of transformation from one state of being to a more advanced stage. When something goes through a number of processes to reach its full capacity or potential, that thing can be said to have developed. Following that trend, national development can be seen as the process through which a state transforms from a state of underdevelopment to development. It connotes that the ability
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of a county to improve the social welfare of the people through the provision of human security and social infrastructure and amenities like education, potable water, transportation infrastructure, medical care and an atmosphere conducive to human growth and happiness.
3.

The Nigerian Situation

I asked this question earlier, and I ask it again: Is government aware that the most fundamental function of the state is to provide citizens security, a good sense of well being as well as an atmosphere conducive to human and institutional development? Are Nigerians safer than they were 10 years ago? Can Nigeria be said to be more developed than a decade ago? If the answers to these questions are no, then we must accept that the Nigerian government has failed in its most fundamental responsibility. No Nigerian is oblivious of the appalling insecurity challenges facing our country. As we gather here, there are

wide ranging views held in various quarters and by various people on the precarious security situation in the country. But we all agree on one thing: without security, our national development aspirations will remain a mirage. As we speak, there are communal conflicts claiming lives at border towns in several states across Nigeria, most of which are underreported. At the same time, the spate of kidnappings in the South Eastern States has escalated alarmingly, while the threats posed by Niger Delta Militants temporarily partially doused due to the amnesty programme of cash hand-outs, has resurfaced with theft of hundreds of thousands f barrels of crude oil daily. The ethnic and sectarian killings in Plateau and across Nigeria have not abated. The only reason we hear less about those conflicts is because of the more brazen attacks attributed to the various variants of what is now known as Boko Haram. Today, several major arterials and highways of Nigeria are either substantially cut off or barricaded, leading to serious economic and social paralysis. Even here in the South West - which is usually presumed to be safer, the consistent attacks by armed groups on banks, travellers and other targets does little to inspire any
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sense of security. Daily accidents that lead to loss of lives, including many of our young people and leaders of the future are part of the general feeling of insecurity from which no Nigerian is immune. By listing these instances, I hope to put in proper perspective how much our internal security in Nigeria has deteriorated. Peaceful co-existence

among the citizens has given way to acrimony and polarisation along ethno-religious lines. No one feels safe. No region is immune. The country is decelerating toward state failure, if it is not already there. 3.1 The Road to Perfidy

We did not get to this state of insecurity overnight. It is a cumulative effect of leadership failures over time. Managing a complex country like Nigeria requires equity in dealing with the component parts constituting the federation. On the part of the citizens, it is imperative for every Nigerian to have a sense of inclusion in the Nigerian project and in the election of people of their choice in free and fair elections. This has not been the case. The political class is largely disconnected from the expectations of ordinary Nigerians. In an environment of plenty, the only thing most Nigerians see are growing poverty, mounting unemployment and state-sponsored divisions. The social capital or trust between government and citizens has been depleted to extinction. No one, even the staff of the NTA, believe Reuben Abati and Labaran Maku's tales by moonlight. And once this basic premise was compromised, it opened the way for vast pockets of dissatisfaction with the state and all that it represents. Thus, most of the apparent cause of internal insecurity, including ethnic and religious crises in the north, and the youth violence and criminality in the south can be linked to increasing economic decline, income inequality, unemployment and hopelessness due to governance failures!
4.

The Implications of Internal Security on National Development

There is a saying that it is better to be a commoner in times of peace than to be a prince in times of war. Today, inordinate amounts of government time, energy and resources are being diverted to tackling the problem of insecurity. If this government is truly
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interested in solving our internal security challenges, that amount would have been justified. But the question remains: are President Goodluck Jonathan and his advisers really keen to tackle the challenges of internal security in Nigeria? By consistently advocating a military solution without intelligence gathering, community engagement and room for negotiations belies this fact. We must not forget that the Borno Elders Forum volunteered in June 2011 to negotiate with Boko Haram, but the president refused their offer. Why? Is it because he would rather convert a quarter of government resources to the amorphous sector of defence and security whose funds are not transparently spent and cannot be audited? Obviously, by committing so much to tackling one particular problem, developmental projects like infrastructure, welfare programs and other key aspects of development are suffering. Insecurity causes fear among citizens. It results in movement and travel restrictions and curtailing of human rights. These have negative impact on investment flows and functioning of markets. These combine to reduce employment opportunities, wealth creation and capital formation. Indeed, security is the foundation and underpinning upon which civilized society is founded, as opposed to jungle justice where the lion is the king. Put simply, without security, there can be no development. At the moment, some of the major challenges confronting the economy include inadequate internal capital formation due to the vicious circle of low productivity, low income, and low savings. Government investments in critical infrastructure like power, roads, railways and public utilities have been grossly inadequate. This has slowed investment and stilted economic growth and job creation. Over 70 percent of the country s estimated 160 million people live below the poverty line. Unemployment is estimated at about 30 percent. Oil income provides over 90 percent of government revenue while critical sectors like agriculture and mining are under-resourced. According to the World Investment Report of UNCTAD, the Nigerian economy recorded a reduction in foreign direct investment from US $8.65 billion in 2009 to US $6.1 billion in 2010 due to the fear of Boko Haram. The Nigerian tourism sector which is worth some N80 billion annually has lost more than half of its value due to fear of terrorist
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attacks. The domestic air transport industry which generates some N3 billion annually has been hard hit by flight cancellations to destinations in the north, with nearly half of the revenues lost. Commercial activity has been hard hit. Kano has been under a virtual military occupation since January 2012. Kaduna, a leading industrial centre has also been repeatedly ravaged by attacks. Things are not helped by the suspicion that what is seen as inaction of the authorities represents a sinister agenda to destroy an already near prostate economy through occupation, militarisation and disruption of socio-economic activities. The recent threat of attacks on Lagos caused immediate social and economic dislocation in the state at great cost. At current rates, it is estimated that by 2015, Nigeria will have more poor people than India and China who have more than a billion people each. In contrast, China and India have lifted more than 600 million out of poverty in the last twenty years of economic growth. In fact, the World Bank includes Nigeria in the list of top 15 places with the highest incidence of poverty. Of our 167 million people, about 112 million live below the poverty level of $2 a day, despite earning over two hundred billion dollars in oil revenues in the last five years alone. Ultimately, the point that must be made is that without security, national development is compromised, or at best substantially slowed down.
5.

What is the way out?

Last year, the Federal Government spent the equivalent of two billion naira every day, including weekends on security. This year, the amount has increased to about three billion every day. What do we get in return? Virtually every other day, we have more bombs exploding. More innocent Nigerians are getting killed. More and more people are being uprooted and internally-displaced. Nobody is safe. Nobody is immune from the circle of violence and retribution. It seems that the more money government throws at the problem, the more sophisticated the attackers become. What is the import of this development? It simply means that no matter the amount of money spent on security and defence, no matter the kinds of arms and equipment
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purchased to tackle insecurity, no matter the numbers of security agencies deployed to our streets, we must go back to the proven maxim: There can be no military solution to what are essentially economic and political problems. There are no easy solutions. There are no silver bullets that can solve the challenge of internal security at one shot, but clearly, the starting point must be social and economic justice for all Nigerians. Until government accepts the fact that the challenges of insecurity we face in Nigeria today are fundamentally borne of social, political and economic iniquities, it will be almost impossible to tackle internal insecurity. Without justice, there can be no security and without security, there can be no development. At the moment, there is too much injustice in Nigeria for peace to reign. As Sheikh Othman Danfodio said, a society can live with unbelief, but can never live with injustice . The convolutions we are seeing today are the consequences of decades of injustice, marginalization and government insincerity. When government can sit down and share over two trillion naira to a tiny cabal of friends and party members under the guise of fuel subsidy, in a country where young children are dying in our hospitals for want of basic drugs; when people sleep and wake up with hunger and disease; when 20 million young Nigerians cannot find jobs; when nearly half of the workforce is either unemployed or underemployed, how can there be security? Incidentally, I doubt that tackling our internal security challenges is the priority of government. While the bombs are going off, killing and maiming innocent Nigerians, government is more concerned with protecting the beneficiaries of the fuel subsidy fraud than asking for refunds or bringing the culprits to justice. Is this the attitude of a government that cares? Addressing insecurity means attacking corruption, poverty and unemployment through well-thought out and targeted programs of investment in education, healthcare, skills development and training, and infrastructure building that will provide employment opportunities in various communities. In addition, the authorities must criminalise the existence of political thugs by whatever name and of whatever description, and ensure
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elections are henceforth free, fair and credible. The political parties need to be reformed, leadership selection be guided largely by merit, while the electoral institutions need to be alive to their responsibilities of serving the citizens not those in power!

Also, as a medium term structural measure, we must work to restore our federalism to the broad outlines embedded in the 1963 republican constitution, devolving more powers and responsibilities to the states and making the federal government less of a busy body. This would require that states like Bauchi whose annual internally-generated revenue is N7 billion should not run a government costing N58 billion because of monthly hand-outs from Abuja. Each state should learn to live within its means and seek to actively develop its comparative endowments. This also means the states would have greater say over their policing and security, natural resource royalties and taxation. State governors will then be compelled to use their resources better and not point fingers at the federal government.

Finally, in addition to reviewing the failed military strategy now in place and scaling back what has become the militarisation of the country, the government must work with community leaders in all affected states and communities to identify interlocutors that would enable honest discussions with groups that pose threats to our internal security. When the very existence of our country is at stake, it is sad that government prefers to play ostrich with the matter of internal security.

6.

Conclusion

There is nowhere in the world where threats to internal security have been defeated purely through military action. Those saying "crush them" should know that this solution has never worked anywhere. We want a country that works for everyone, and this senseless loss of lives must end now. The government that has the responsibility for our security must bend over backwards to deliver it. If they continue to fail in this regard, they will not be in government for too long.

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I wish to end by repeating the words on Nigeria s Coat of Arms: Unity, Faith, Peace and Progress . It is not by accident that the words were arranged in that order. Unity will lead to faith in the entity, and faith will beget peace and finally, progress. As we have seen, without internal security, national development will remain a mirage.

Thank you again for inviting me to share my views with you. May Allah help us to attain internal security in Nigeria and guide us towards building a nation that is free, just and equitable!

References Abubo, O. (2005) Ethnic Conflicts and Citizenship Crises in Central Nigeria, PEFS, University of Ibadan, Nigeria Elaigwu, J. (2002) The Challenge of Nation-Building in the 21st Century: The Nigerian Experience, University of Calabar, Nigeria El-Rufai, N. (2012) Nigeria: Rich country, poor people (article published in Thisday newspaper, Nigeria) Hay et al (2006) The State: Theories and Issues. Policy Analysis Series, Palgrave Macmillan, London
Jega, A. M. (2007) Democracy, Good Governance and Development in Nigeria,

Spectrum, Ibadan, Nigeria Olasupo, M. A. (2010) The Imperative and Challenges of Agenda Setting in Nigeria, Marvelous Mike Ltd, Abuja, Nigeria

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