Time to halt losses of our fighting forces

Kene Obiezu

In Nigeria, to serve is to die. With terrorists swarming around, to breach the security of Nigeria, one’s lifework and day job is to risk death every day.

It would prove almost impossible to put a figure to the losses Nigeria has suffered at the hands of non-state actors in the last decade.

However, whenever such a grim assignment is set upon, Nigeria would discover to its chagrin that it has raked in many losses indeed.

In defence of the country from numberless and ruthless terrorists, valiant men and women have been dying like flies.

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Every day, in the different war zones that litter the country, non-state actors let loose a barrage of fire in the war they wage against Nigeria. When the noise dies down, the bodies pile up.

The bodies of young men and women brutally cut down in their prime are testament to a country at war; one forced to make one too many sacrifices.

The war zones which now scar Nigeria’s landscape are especially concentrated in some Nigerian states. These states which are predominantly Northern states have  seen no little blood.

From Borno to Yobe to Kaduna to Kebbi to Katsina to Zamfara and  Niger states among others; many of those who serve in the different security agencies have had to lay down their lives.

Whenever another of what have become carefully orchestrated attacks are carried out, security agencies count their losses while the enemies of the country count trophies.

The perilous nature of defending Nigeria from bloodthirsty insurgents is furiously underlined by the hazards that face those courageous enough to bear arms in defense of the country.

While many Nigerians would rather seek employment elsewhere assuming those opportunities were not so scarce, many in search of secure jobs choose to serve.

The fact that the so-called secure jobs rank as the most insecure is telling in itself. For those who defend Nigeria, death is only a whisker away.

In volatile Kaduna State in Northwest Nigeria, the Nigeria  Security and Civil Defence Corps is one of such security agencies tasked with keeping  terrorists away from tormented communities.

In the face of grave danger, the corps has always  striven to ensure that its men are always stationed to defend beleaguered communities. However, the  corps received  a rude awakening recently.

On Monday, January 9, 2023, bandits attacked and killed seven personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps at a local mining site in Kaduna State.

The attacks which also killed about six vigilantes  in  the area were said to have occurred around 3.00pm and were carried out by two groups of  attackers.

The attacks continued a trend of killing security personnel in Kaduna State which has quickly proven to be one of the most dangerous states in Nigeria for security personnel.

Kaduna State has also remained one of Nigeria’s most unsafe states. This is in spite of the heavy presence of Nigeria’s premier defence institutions in the state.

In 2022, terrorists attacked the Nigeria Defence Academy in Kaduna State,killed some soldiers and abducted others.

The authorities must do more to secure lives and property in Kaduna State especially the lives of those who keep others safe. The constant losses suffered among our security forces have seriously weakened the efforts to contain the menace of insecurity.

The Federal Government and the Kaduna State Government have had about eight years in office. In these eight years, the security situation in Kaduna State has seemed to have been growing worse by the day.

It is an indictment on the government that every measure taken to keep the state safe has failed to yield the desired results. In the face of the overwhelming failures, what has been changed?

How much has been done to rejig the security agencies which battle the insurgents day and night? How much has been sunk into their welfare to keep them properly motivated?

In the event that they lay down their lives in defending Nigeria, what provision is made to ensure that their families are  not left stranded?

It is not really about sending more security personnel to comb the thick forests of Kaduna State until no single terrorist is left there to plan more attacks.

Rather, it is about ensuring that the best strategy whose efficacy has been proven by experience is employed to neutralize the terrorists and ensure that they are systematically decimated.

It is rather about ensuring that those who fight are armed with the best arms and are properly trained to combat those who pose existential threats to Nigeria.

Again, around the country, those who combat these insurgents always fall into deadly ambushes. On its own, this is enough indictment for Nigeria’s intelligence gathering.

This unfortunate and catastrophically costly war against terror has lingered because those who attack Nigeria always seem to be one step ahead of those who defend her.

Unless this gap is bridged, Nigeria will continue to fight without much to show for it. The last eight years have gone into this fight with embarrassingly little to show for it.

It is also in the interest of winning the war against terror that Nigeria moves against those who sponsor those who are determined to hasten the demise of the country.

It is disturbing enough that some of these sponsors are known. That they are yet to be apprehended, prosecuted, and incarcerated is downright troubling.

Until Nigeria moves to decisively win the war against terror, the country will continue to lose valiant men and women to the dogs lapping up Nigeria’s blood.

Obiezu wrote from Abuja