Fight against terrorism : Governors Are On Their Own
Though it seems all hands are on deck to fight the escalating violence orchestrated mainly by the Boko Haram sect, there seems to be no synergy between President Goodluck Jonathan and the governors of the states where terrorism is prevalent, Sunday Trust’s enquiries have revealed. In Borno, Yobe, Plateau and Niger where there is […]
Though it seems all hands are on deck to fight the escalating violence orchestrated mainly by the Boko Haram sect, there seems to be no synergy between President Goodluck Jonathan and the governors of the states where terrorism is prevalent, Sunday Trust’s enquiries have revealed.
In Borno, Yobe, Plateau and Niger where there is a state of emergency, and in other states like Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi and Adamawa, where the sect’s fighters carry out acts of terror, state governments carry their cross, with little support from the Federal Government. Associates of the governors who spoke to our reporters expressed doubts on regular contacts between their bosses and the president, as they claimed there is little or no activity to prove so.
This lack of unity of purpose between Abuja and the affected states, in addition to the lack of cooperation among the Police, the State Security Service, Immigration, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, may have contributed to the failure of government’s attempt to stamp out the current insecurity across the North, in spite of the N1 trillion voted for the security sector in the 2012 budget.
An official in Kano State Government, where Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso is of the PDP, explained the state’s predicament thus: “There has not been any special meeting between our governor and the president on this matter of insecurity in the last one month. I don’t think there has been any joint meeting of governors of the states where Boko Haram fighters are operating.
If they met the president to discuss these issues, it might be at fora where all governors are invited.”
A top official in Borno State Government told their own story thus: “My governor is making efforts to reach out to the Boko Haram sect, but this he’s doing on his own. When the Federal Government says it was looking for a way to dialogue with these sect members and engaged Dr Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, Borno State was never involved. We read it in the newspapers, just like other Nigerians read it. “
Apart from the lack of synergy in the fight against terrorism, Sunday Trust learnt that the federal government does not support these states with special funds or equipment, apart from the despatch of the Joint Task Force (JTF) operatives to battle the militants. In Kano State, for instance, the Federal Government has not sent any security gadgets to support the operations of the JTF. However, the state has included the purchase of anti-bomb detection gadgets in its 2012 budget, and in the near future these gadgets will be installed. Also, the state is actively involved in providing food and accommodation for soldiers. The food items are distributed at the Government House by the Directorate of Special Services in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government. Here, the state pays allowances to soldiers.
In Borno State, the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Information, Mr Inuwa Bwala, told Sunday Trust that there has been little assistance from the Federal Government to the state. He said, “We’re housing the JTF in the 1,000 Housing Estate in Maiduguri, built by government, and we pay them their daily allowance. We’ve purchased pick-up vans and armoured vehicles to help them move from one point to another to carry out their operations. It’s really frustrating because no federal government official has visited us since this crisis stated. There’s no special fund to support us. In fact, at a point, government withheld allocations for five local governments. We’ve been neglected.”
Our checks in Yobe State revealed the same situation. Sunday Trust learnt that the Federal Government has left the burden of maintaining the JTF on the shoulders of the state, with little or no assistance from the Federal Government. Our correspondent gathered that the state government has provided a complete set of communication system to the JTF. It has also provided 180 Toyota Hilux pick up vans to the police, State Security Service, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps. On a monthly basis, the state paid N40 million as a special allowance to the police. In terms of accommodation, these are provided in Gashua, Potiskum, Damaturu, where government lodges are being used by the JTF. In addition, the Presidential lodge in Kukareteta, the newly building boarding primary school in Damaturu and the Gaidam 2011 campaign headquarters are being utilised by the JTF.
“Whenever there is any need, the JTF will run to us,” a government official told our reporter at the weekend. “We’re not complaining because the forces are maintaining security in our land. They’re helping to protect our people. But we expect the Federal Government to be involved in this fight, because, no matter how you look at it, the Boko Haram is now a national issue. It has gone beyond the North East. It is better to treat it with such seriousness. The centre needs to involve the states in every step it is taking to curb the menace.
In Kaduna State, an unconfirmed report quoted the Private Principal Secretary to Governor Yakowa, Mallam Yohana Allamangani, as saying that in 2010 the state government spent N300 million weekly, making a total of N1.2 billion monthly, on security. It is not clear how much the state gets from the Federal Government through the intervention of Vice President Namadi Sambo. In spite of this huge spending, the sect successfully launched attacks that led to the death of over 100 persons last week.
The Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, told Sunday Trust last night that it is not true that President Jonathan has abandoned the governors to their fate.
Dr Abati argued that, “Governors are members of the National Council of States. Apart from this, there is always a regular meeting between the president and governors under the auspices of the Nigerian Governors Forum. Also, the president is in touch with these governors one-on-one, and he has said all the time that the fight against terror is one that involves everybody. He meets with leaders of thoughts in all parts of the North. There’s regular consultation and exchange of ideas. To say the president has abandoned them is not true.”
In reaction to this situation, an expert on Terrorism, Dr Amaechi Nwokolo, told Sunday Trust that it would be unfortunate if the president does not work with the governors on ground in states where Boko Haram is prevalent. “There has to be a close cooperation, not just with governors, but always with even the local people. The imams, traditional rulers and district heads. Tanks and AK-47 cannot solve this problem.”
Also, Professor Ango Abdullahi, a former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in an interview with our reporter last week said government cannot win the war against terror unless a cross-section of stakeholders are carried along.
Professor Abdullahi said, “Competence means measures, various types of measures, that the government can take in a proactive way to solve the problems. It is not the number of tanks, guns or policemen. There are so many ways of dealing with crisis situations but the greatest failure of government, in my view, is not being able to bring all stakeholders together, because a country is more than a government. The country is a people and their interactions both with themselves and the government. You need the cooperation of these stakeholders to be able to achieve whatever direction that you want to go.
“I gave an example of the problem the JTF is facing because the people see them as hostile to them and they are not ready to cooperate with them, which they vitally require for the success of the operations. “We made these observations in our submissions to the government that they should bring in all the stakeholders at the community; religious, tradition, political leadership and so on, to be able to have a total understanding of where we are and where we want to go. Without these, they cannot in isolation be able to get to the roots of these difficult problems.”