Several high caliber meetings of security heads have taken place at the Presidential villa to address the failing security in the country.
Despite these meetings, where the President and Commander-in-Chief, Muhammadu Buhari, surrounds himself with service chiefs at the end of which the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen Mohammed Babagana Mungono (ret.d) or the IGP Usman Alkali Baba will brief the nation and make repeated promises to step up assault on the marauders, killings by bandits and terrorists have intensified.
From the Northeast, where rag tag Boko Haram began a little over a decade ago, terrorism, banditry and barefaced criminality have spread fast into Northwest, North-central while other poorly managed unrests in Southeast and Southwest have escalated.
Such was the case when many called for rejigging of the security apparatus, including sacking of former service chiefs. For long, President Buhari resisted that call, even when it became clear the top brass officers had reached their wits end.
When he reluctantly appointed new service chiefs, there was renewed hope that the new helmsmen would deploy fresh strategies to address turn around the situation. There have been strategic moves and initiatives in this direction.
For instance, Operation Puff Adder (Nigerian Police), Operation Harbin Kunama 3 (Nigerian Army) and Exercise Egwu Eke 3 (Nigerian Army) were launched in 2019, to complement the existing Operations Sharan Daji (launched in 2016 by the Nigerian Army) and Diran Mikiya (launched 2018 by the Nigerian Air Force), among others.
Notwithstanding these operations under different tags, citizens have continued to remind the President that the menace of marauding herders, banditry and kidnappings have ensured that security of life and property no longer exists in the country.
