Since terrorism and banditry have deepened their roots in almost all the states in Nigeria and have affected the well-being of citizens, it is high time that the state government focused on building a more mechanized security system to combat this plague instead of depending in state police intervention. Those mechanisms include connectivity on fixed-wing, air transport, rotorcraft, and unmanned aviation in aerial firefighting, business aviation, emergency medical services (EMS), search and rescue (SAR) and more. By leveraging on those and building satellite-based tracking stations and military drones, each state will be able to tackle the insecurity challenges.
Starlink network can be utilized for this because it allows users to connect their devices anywhere in the world. It will provide users with direct access to high-speed, low-latency internet communication from space without the assistance of an Internet service provider or cable company. In this same view, the governors need to work together and link all 36 states plus FCT to the Starlink network by using the Iridium satellite network, which has a constellation of tens of thousands of satellites that are intended to enable high-speed internet access.
Government should use the available resources to tackle insurgencies.
Governors of Nigeria’s several states should prioritize the use of manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for intelligence gathering and precision airstrikes. They should purchase unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more generally known as drones, to swiftly expand the Air Force’s current drone campaign and its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) abilities. The armed drones, which are low-risk force multipliers, will be controlled by pilots stationed at air bases near the battle zones.
The Nigerian Air Force’s (NAF) surveillance aircraft and CH-3A drone can be used to track the Boko Haram insurgency with a mobile artillery system and gun trucks in the area of the group’s Sambisa enclave. The surveillance drone then dropped an energy weapon and destroyed the crew and their equipment. The CH-3A drone can hover above the target of interest for hours and fire AR-1 guided missiles or YC-200 guided bombs. It was one of four bought from China’s Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation in 2014 and 2015 when the Boko Haram uprising was at its worst.
More needs to be done to improve the country’s security.
Police need to be equipped more, especially when insecurity is on the rise and the national force seems unwilling to help. However, there is a fear that the governors might turn those forces into their private armies, just as what happened under Hassan Usman Katsina in May–July 1966 and under Samuel Ladoke Akintola in 1964. The former governor of Osun state, Rauf Aregbesola, and the present minister of interior demonstrated a good example of a good security plan. During Aregbesola’s tenure, he planned a security architecture, bought a helicopter for aerial security surveillance, and presented 25 armored personnel carriers to the Police Force, which drove away many undesirables in the state. And the then-IGP Mohammed Abubakar, represented by the AIG in zone X1, David Omojola, praised the governor’s courage.
In 1930, the colonial administration created the Nigerian Police to protect Nigerians. Before 1930, we had the Hausa Constabulary (1879), the Royal Niger Company Constabulary (1888), the Niger Coast Constabulary (1894) and the Lagos Police, which was established in 1896. And before 1914, the different police forces were merged for easy “administrative convenience.” The first constitution after independence provided for each region to have a police force before the Gowon regime disbanded it. As of 1960, Nigeria had 12,000 policemen. Post-war growth led to 80,000 by 1979. The 1979 Constitution gave exclusive authority to the Federal government over the controlled police force.
People no longer trust the police with their lives and properties.
For years, the Nigerian police have seemed to be experiencing what people believe to be a lack of purpose, and in most cases, people no longer entrust their lives and properties to them. And as of now, the same is still happening because some wrong people and thugs are still being recruited into the police force, which is like a stumbling block to building a great stronghold. All this, coupled with security challenges, makes people believe that the best way to have a peaceful country is to find a more mechanized way of protecting the citizens.
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