By Chimezie Godfrey
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor has said that the military has played the significant role of keeping the various entities of the country united despite security challenges.
He made the statement on Wednesday in Abuja at the 21 Century Chronicle Roundtable with the theme, “Going for Broke: Fighting insecurity in Nigeria.”
Speaking on the Armed Forces and the War Against Insecurity in Nigera, Gen. Irabor who said negative narratives that favour criminal elements fuel insecurity in the country, urged the media to rather collaborate with other stakeholders to contribute to the meaningful solution to the problems at hand.
He revealed that so far the military in collaboration with other security agencies have been able to keep the country united despite secessionist agitations.
He said, “Some of the misrepresentation the media had, this affords me the means to rewrite some of these things, where the media can be better engaged to contribute to the meaningful solution to the problems at hand rather than the media being on the side of those who are adversary to the state, and adversary to our collective good.
“And I felt that this forum will give us the opportunity to rub minds and see how we can be on the same page rather than we having a feud on the part of the criminals who eulogize criminality and criminal acts in our land.
“Again, we have been able to contribute meaningfully in uniting the various groups and entities in Nigeria. Before, what we hear is secessionist agitations in the South-East especially of those in the South-West. The holistic solution can not achieved within the realm of the military alone, no, there are cause for political discourse which we are supposed to have in a greater context in terms of addressing those issues.
“But we have been able to play significant part in ensuring that the different entities in Nigeria remain united.”
Speaking further the CDS said there are challenges atising from politicization of security issues generally.
Other issues he mentioned are ethnicisation of security issues, porous border, over reliance on imported military wares, false narratives that favour the criminals, among others.
Former Director Defence Information Major General Chris Olukolade (Retd) said it takes a lot of time to produce a soldier, air man or sea man.
He noted that Nigeria did not recruit when it should during stability but rather retired several soldiers due to paucity of funds.
In her remarks, Dr. Mairo Mandara raised concern that the Civilian Joint Task Force CJTF will pose a greater threat if just allowed…She called for social justice in order to address insurgency.
She said,”Insurgency cannot be stopped by military operations alone,it is a social disorder due to social injustice.”
Commenting on the need for more resources towards defence and security,she rather called for strategic use of available resources.
“I beg to disagree with you the CDS, we need strategic use of resources,we need strong punishment for stealing of resources,unless we block those leakages,we cannot ask for more resources”
She stressed the need to build trust between the government and the citizens in order to stem the tide of rising insecurity
In his remarks, the chairman of the occasion Senator Kashim Shettima said the economy must accommodate the teaming youths in order to tame insecurity.
He further restated call for the need to regulate social media,adding that the Nigerian media deserves commendation and not condemnation.
