The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has urged the Federal Government to address corruption in the security sector in order to end insecurity in the country.
Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director of CISLAC, gave the charge when he spoke on Channels TV on Monday, commending President Bola Tinubu for the decision to withdraw police officers from Very Important Persons (VIPs), stressing that misplacement of priority has made it impossible to place the police in ungoverned spaces.
Rafsanjani said, “Because of the entrenched corruption in the security sector, which we’ve been calling for the government to address, unfortunately, it has also become a source of making money for some people.
“And like a joke, the thing has eaten the public of our society. So, until we rise up to deal decisively with corruption in the security sector and improve policing by ensuring that we have the necessary facilities, equipment, and personnel, while also motivating them, we will not achieve our goals. If they get killed, even for their families to get their entitlement, they’ll pass through corruption, extortion, and delay. Even those who have retired, you see them every day, coming out for one protest because their entitlement is not given.
“Now, with such a situation, there’s no way you can debate the criminality that we’re having in the country. Because even from the recruitment process, we’ve not been able to do the right thing. In a situation where people have to bribe to obtain the forms, and even bribe to get posted to what they call lucrative places. Especially where people have to bribe their way to a promotion, rather than being promoted on merit.
“These are all part of the thing that has given up to put us where we’re in the lackadaisical situation about the security sector. Coupled with the fact that you don’t have shared intelligence, coordination, partnership, collaboration, and on top of it, there’s a total loss of confidence on the Nigerian people to the security personnel because of the outright extortion and incriminating Nigerians, even when they volunteer to provide information that will lead to addressing a security breach.
He added, “So also, we also have the challenge of the government not being bothered about any warning and any response mechanism because every violent conflict in this country, you have a signal, you have a pointer to the fact that something was going to happen.
“But because of the lack of timely intervention, you allow such a situation to go and at the end of the day, we lose lives and property. So, equally important, Nigerians have been talking about the fact that we need to prioritise security.”
On the withdrawal of police from VIPs, he said, “We thank the President, on Sunday, he announced that the police who are guiding VIPs, including Yahoo Yahoo people, will now be withdrawn.
“Misplacement of priority and because they have refused to also place the police in ungoverned spaces, we have an absence of police or absence of law enforcement agents where we need them to protect Nigerians.”
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