Beyond the change of security personnel

Goodluck Jonathan

The recent changes in security personnel by President Goodluck Jonathan appear to be more a product of desperation to attack the lingering security challenges in the country.

Penultimate week, the president sacked Andrew Azazi, National Security Adviser (NSA), and relieved Haliru Mohammed Bello of his duty as the Defence minister. He has replaced Azazi with Sambo Dasuki, a former Aide-de-Camp to former military president, Ibrahim Babangida. Bello is yet to get a successor.

Explaining the reason for the changes, President Jonathan said it was to inject fresh ideas into the efforts at tackling the Boko Haram insurgence.

“They (Boko Haram) change their tactics every day, and their aim is to destabilise the government. So, we brought in people who can do things differently, not that those who were there did not work hard,” he said.

We are in support of any step at arresting the unfortunate state of affairs. However, if the reason for the appointment of Dasuki is just merely to bring a new face on board, it does not portray government as having the right antidote for a national malady.

What the president’s explanation revealed is that government will continue to make changes in personnel, rather than evolve strategies that will bring about enduring solution to the Boko Haram menace.

Furthermore, there are speculations that the appointment of Dasuki was part of government’s decision to establish a rapprochement with strong opposition figures. If this is true, then government is applying what is called the “tipping point” approach to the nation’s security challenges.

No doubt, the late Umaru Yar’Adua applied this method in achieving peace in the Niger Delta. The late president used prominent indigenes of the region to appeal to the conscience of the militants. This brought about the Amnesty deal, which many of the former militants are enjoying today.

However, we recall that some months ago, the Federal Government sacked Hafiz Ringim as the Inspector-General of Police, replacing him with Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, but since that change, members of the Boko Haram sect are yet to be subdued.

The way out of this security problem, we daresay, is for government to be open to every cogent suggestion and to take advantage of all available information about those behind the group. Although the ‘tipping point’ strategy succeeded largely in the case of the Niger Delta crisis, it is worth stating that there is no guarantee that it will work this time around.

To achieve the desired result, therefore, we recommend a people-friendly approach that will encourage Nigerians, especially traditional rulers, to offer useful information, while coordination among security agents is imperative.