The Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Rtd Major Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd) had stated that the various security agencies in the country were not deploying adequate technology to combat insecurity because of its difficult procurement process.
The NSA, who made this disclosure while briefing newsmen at the State House in Abuja on 21st April 2022, attributed the non-deployment of adequate technology to its expensive nature.
While highlighting the challenges faced while procuring technological devices to fight insecurity, Monguno said the government was trying its best to meet up with its responsibilities.
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“So the first question has to do with why is it so difficult to deploy technology. One, technology is expensive. Technology takes time to acquire these things since inherently we do not produce these very, very delicate equipment.
“It’s not as if the government is not making any effort to acquire but we need to know who to acquire this technology from, where, when and there are certain processes.
“For now, I know we have but the plight is that they are inadequate. So to the government, it’s a continuous process. That’s what I can say about the issue of deploying technology,” he said.
He added that one of the major causes of insecurity in Nigeria was the porosity of the country’s borders, informing that the government was working with neighbouring countries to ensure that illegal entry into Nigeria is curtailed.
“On the question on border security, obviously, we have very extensive borders, and I’m not going to deceive anyone. All of us know that we have problems of infiltration by virtue of the fact that we have a very large economy.
“It attracts a lot of people from outside and they come in illegally, not just through the land borders, but also through the maritime waters.
“Of course, in the case of the maritime borders, most of things have been done in the last one year to secure the maritime domain, up to the point that, the International Maritime Bureau has acknowledged the fact that in 27 years, our maritime borders have not been as secure and peaceful as they were in the last one year.
“That is a fact, it is not a conjecture, I didn’t cook up this thing. So we want to see how we can replicate that type of efforts put in the maritime domain on our land borders. That is something that council is looking into,” he said.
It’s not anymore news that in recent times, insecurity in Nigeria has worsened under the Buhari-led administration as the country witnessed some of the bloodiest attacks in its history.
Currently, virtually every geo-political zone within the shores of the country suffers one form of attack or the other, notably from outfits such as Boko Haram/ISWAP, IPOB separatists, herdsmen, and bandits.
The country has equally witnessed the highest number of school children abductions and hostage-taking since 2014 when the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted.
In the same vein, the highest number of jailbreaks in a single year has been experienced by the acclaimed giant of Africa, as no fewer than four prisons had been affected counting from last year.
Bandits have abruptly overshadowed the Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists as they had made some states in the North-West and North-Central the epicentres of killings in the country.
Though the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has repeatedly claimed that Nigerians are more secure under its watch than during the previous administrations, the assertion had been disputed by facts on the ground.
Munguno’s claims could be described as laughable, because Nigeria conspicuously possesses all it takes to ensure the needed devices are procured. Whatever protocol and financing required to do the needful can be provided by the country.
Talking about porosity of the various borders, in my capacity as a tech expert and policy analyst, I have variously taken time to provide measures needed to be deployed towards addressing the country’s porous borders, and similar advice had equally been tendered by other concerned Nigerians, yet till date, we are still singing same song as regards security challenges.
The above assertions and revelations are indications that Nigeria’s current security quagmire is attributed to lack of political will.