Chairman, Institute of Security and Safety Studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Chikwe Udensi attributes Nigeria’s worsening security situation to weak leadership and insufficient commitment from the government.
He said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday.
“It’s essentially a leadership issue, and we have said it over and over. If you must have to take decisions on issues, take very strong decisions and find solutions to them. The truth remains today that we are not serious. The three tiers of government—to the federal, state, and local government—are very unserious with the issue of security, and that has become a problem,” he stated.
Adding, he stressed that without strong leadership, proper resources, and incentives for security personnel, efforts to tackle insecurity will remain ineffective.
“If you want to do a work of security, you must be serious. You must put enough resources to it, provide necessary tools, and make sure you motivate those whose job it is to maintain law and order. That is not happening right now, unfortunately.”
Udensi pointed out that the majority of frontline policing is handled by low-ranking officers who are poorly paid, demotivated, and ill-equipped for the challenges they face.
“Today, about 80 to 90% of police work is done by the category of people called the NCOs, the non-commissioned officers. This category of people are from constable to inspector. They are earning just a little above 100,000 Naira a month. He’s a policeman, ask him. We keep shouting about these things all these years; if you pay peanuts, you’re going to get monkeys. I think if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”
He emphasised that Nigeria’s security system is plagued by corruption and sabotage from within.
“We have criminals in the system. The system is corrupted. Let us call things by their proper names. Let us stop all these. Call a spade a spade. The fact remains that the system has saboteurs in them. That is why you see even when you plan effectively, there’s problem associated with sabotage. If you have saboteurs in the system, you pay them poorly, what do you expect them to do? The next thing they will do, they use the small tools you have given to them to sustain themselves. It is survival, that’s the first law,” he explained.
Arguing that low pay and corruption cripple security agencies, Udensi said officers often prioritise survival over duty, making real progress against crime nearly impossible.
Udensi warned that repeating the same ineffective strategies while expecting different results is futile, stressing that Nigeria must adopt serious, proven measures like those used globally if the country hopes to achieve real security.
“So the fact remains that we must have to do the right thing. Let me give you information very clearly: it has been said over and over that insanity is simply defined as doing one thing over and over and expecting a different result. That’s what we are doing. We are not serious. We must have to do something reasonable, especially what is happening around the world; we must have to get serious if we want to have security in the country,” he said.
Udensi noted that although Nigerians excel abroad, the country’s security forces lag behind due to a lack of proper tools and motivation.
“I agree with the AIG that—listen, when Nigerians leave this country, they do well. They do excellently well; they are superb, they are diligent, and they are more intelligent than others. When we go outside here, we excel and we are respected. When we come back, we cannot implement those things that we have learned outside here. You know why? The circumstances of the unavailability of tools.
“I was a guest of the Inspector General of Police of Ethiopia not too long ago, and also the Inspector General of Police of Ghana. I took time to see what they have on the ground. Let us not compare ourselves with countries outside Africa; let us look at Africa. The tools that these guys have, we don’t have, unfortunately. And also the motivation. They are not earning so much income from what I gathered, but there’s motivation there. Our security personnel are poorly motivated,” he bemoaned.
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