How uncordial civil-military relations hamper anti-insurgency war – Cleen Foundation

The Cleen Foundation and International Alert-Nigeria has said that insurgency and banditry have been difficult to contain in North-West and North-East due to the kinetic approach adopted by the military.

The organisation said this in Abuja at the public presentation of the ‘Research findings on the Security Dynamics, Solutions and Civil-Military Relations in the North-West and North-East’.

Speaking at the event supported by Open Society Africa, the Executive Director, Cleen Foundation, Mr Gad Peter, noted that in the last decade, Zamfara, Borno, Plateau and other states in North-east, North-central and North-west  have continued to suffer developmental challenges due to Boko Haram, ISWAP amd rural bandits activities.

“The Military and the Vigilante groups such as the Civilian Joint Task Force and organized hunters who have supported the fight against Boko Haram present a unique challenge in how they relate with members of the host communities.”

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“These issues were compounded by the kinetic approach initially adopted by the military and other dysfunctional approaches adopted by the security agencies thus creating a vacuum in cordial civil military relations in the affected states in North East and North West Nigeria.

“Adopting Non–kinetic approaches by the military and non-military security forces, and improving their effectiveness in the fight against insurgency is an urgent necessity to improve civil military relations,” Peter said.

He, however, said the Nigerian military, alongside other security agencies, have significantly degraded the capacity of the Boko Haram insurgents, and internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees are now returning to their communities.

Country Director, International Alert-Nigeria, Dr. Paul Nyulaku-Benshima, said that as the level of insecurity is rising, evidences generated from the two researches presents important evidence for helping the security situation in the different areas and across the country.

“Communities are living in very difficult conditions, and this research underscores building the relationship between communities and security agencies. Security, as we all know, is no longer an only military affair. It’s no longer an only security agency affair. It’s collective, and by collective, it means in our everyday parlance in Nigeria is everybody’s business.

“Above that, the mandate of security agencies in these different communities should be underpinned by the protection needs of these communities. I think the missing link, and the rich evidence in this research, will help security agencies to understand some of those needs, and the recommendations are well laid out in terms of how we deal with these issues,” Nyulaku-Benshima said.