Do you know the number of security agencies in Nigeria? It is the responsibility of security organizations to keep the life and property of those they have been assigned to safe. For every security agency, there are specific responsibilities, training, and criteria used to ascertain their effectiveness. 

 

Armed forces (comprising the Nigerian Army, Navy, and Air Force).The Armed forces is the combined Military, Naval, and Air Forces of a nation. A military, also known collectively as Armed Forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare.

It is typically authorized and maintained by a Sovereign State, with its members identifiable by their distinct military uniforms. The main task of the Military is usually defined as the defense of the state and its interests against external armed threats.

 

The Department of State Services (DSS) is a secret Security Agency saddled with the responsibilities of national intelligence, federal and state law enforcement, and protecting senior government officials, including the Nigerian President.

The mission of the DSS is to protect and defend the Federal Republic of Nigeria against domestic threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of Nigeria, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to both federal and state law-enforcement organs. 

 

The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is a Nigerian government division tasked with overseeing foreign intelligence and counter-intelligence operations. The main responsibilities of the NIA are counter-intelligence and foreign intelligence collection operations.

The NIA focuses on external threats to Nigerian national interests. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is the primary Military Intelligence Agency of Nigeria. The DIA is to provide an efficient system of obtaining Military Intelligence for the Nigerian Armed Forces and Ministry of Defense.

The DIA promotes Nigeria’s Defense Policy, enhances Military cooperation with other countries, protects the lives of Nigerian citizens, and maintains the territorial integrity of Nigeria. 

 

The Nigeria Police Force is the principal law enforcement and the lead security agency in Nigeria. The Nigeria Police Force performs important duties such as crime prevention, crime investigation, road traffic control, election security duties, controlling and quelling civil unrest, military duties, VIP protection services, and sundry. 

 

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is an independent customs service under the supervisory oversight of the Nigerian Ministry of Finance, responsible for the collection of customs revenue, facilitation of both national and international trade, anti-smuggling, and security activities.

Nigeria Customs Service includes, but not limited to the following: Collection of Revenue (Import/Excise Duties & other Taxes /Levies) and accounting for same. Anti-Smuggling activities. Security functions.

They also intercept contraband such as illegal drugs and weapons. Check travellers and their baggage, cargo, and mail; assess and collect Customs duties and other taxes on Goods and Services. 

 

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC). Today, their primary function is to protect lives and properties in conjunction with Nigerian police. One of the crucial functions of the Corps is to protect pipelines from vandalism. The agency is also involved in crisis resolutions. 

 

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) is a governmental organization responsible for border security and migration management in Nigeria. The Service is responsible for the control of persons entering or leaving Nigeria. The issuance of travel documents, including Nigerian passports, to bonafide Nigerians within and outside Nigeria and the issuance of residence permits to foreigners in Nigeria.

Border surveillance and patrol. Enforcement of laws and regulations with which they are directly charged; and the performance of such para-military duties within or outside Nigeria as may be required of them under the authority. Some are mentioned in this right-up because of time and space.

 

Now, looking at the array of security organisations in Nigeria, which is headed by the President of Nigeria (Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Police) why is the country facing serious threat of kidnappings and serial killings by Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen? The spate of killings in Nigeria these days is alarming and it seems nobody is safe.

Nigerians are in for the worst insecurity periods in the post-independence era. Does it mean that no government can stop the killings and kidnappings in this country? Does it mean the Federal Government is not paying sufficient attention to the issue of these killers and their tyrannical tendencies all over the country? The situation is getting grimmer by the day, it could result in an expansive conflagration that might be difficult to contain.  

There is no question about the fact that this is becoming a monster of sorts. I have had cause likewise majority of Nigerians to express views on this on many occasions and it is like the calls are being ignored. The menace is gradually moving towards a precipice and we must do something about it as early as possible.

It is getting dangerous. The audacity is very disturbing. These killers must be called to order. These wanton destructions, audacious incursions into other people’s territory cannot continue unabated. They just go to the farms and devastate the farms.

Some farmers have been turned to perpetual debtors because some of the inputs for the farms are bought from bank loans. The herdsmen will just get there and destroy these farmlands, and we are talking of diversification. 

These days, from community to community, killers strike, triggering deaths and wreaking massive misery on villages and villagers. They sack entire communities and rape both young and old women. 

Over the years, farmers and cattlemen have engaged in bloody feuds in many communities across the various states in the country. The herdsmen have been accused of leading their cows to graze on farmlands, totally devastating crops and people’s means of livelihoods.

And at the slightest resistance, the herdsmen would go on the rampage, killing farmers, burning farms, houses and pillaging entire communities. I think if nothing is done about the activities of these killers, it will expand more than what we are witnessing now. 

It is a major challenge and unarguably the President and all major stakeholders should take this as a very serious challenge. The blood-thirsty marauders masquerading as pastoralists, but driven more by an expansionist agenda have wasted thousands of innocent lives.

With impunity as their wielding stick, they still walk our streets as free men because in Nigeria, we are not equal before the laws of the land. That is just part of the pain. 

The other is the obvious utter negligence of duty, or at best the lukewarm attitude of security personnel to the wanton wasting of the priceless lives of fellow citizens. Indeed, the frequency and gravity of the killing spree should inform us that we are greatly under-secured.

It also shows that the current centralized security system, just like that of our political power structure is antithetical to the dictates of an enduring democratic culture. We need more of community security, in a similar way that we deserve a diffusion of power from the bloated federal centre. Impunity must be done away with.  

Above all, Nigerians must be treated as equals before the law. An effective prioritization of security by the government would ensure a much safer place for its citizens and visiting foreigners to live. None of the listed security agencies is less important and as mentioned, all have specific responsibilities.

I wish to end this write up by quoting Martin Luther king Jnr, “The deepest part of hell is reserved for those leaders who kept silent in the face of evil”. 

God Bless Nigeria!!!