INSECURITY IN KADUNA STATE: FALLOUTS OF THE SHUTDOWN OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND BAN ON MOTORCYCLES
Samuel Enyi Otsapa
Samuelotsapa@gmail.com
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By Samuel Enyi Otsapa
For many years, Nigerians were regarded as the “happiest people on earth” but I doubt if we still are. For Nigerians living outside Kaduna State, if we no longer hear about incidences of banditry, kidnappings and killings in the state as much as we used to, it is not because the government, state and federal, is winning the fight against the enemies of Kaduna State. It is because for two months, the state government had shut down telecommunications, calls and internet, in some local government areas of the state including some parts of the metropolis like Barnawa, Goningora, Sabo, Television, Mahuta, Romi, Ungwan Maigero, etc – and banned the use of motorcycles for commercial and personal purposes.
It is interesting that for two long months, the Kaduna State Government in collaboration with the federal controlled Nigerian military (and of course the telecommunications companies; Glo, Airtel, MTN, etc) shutdown telecommunications and banned the use of motorcycles as measures to stop armed herders, bandits and kidnappers from carrying out their activities in the state. However, last week, the government and the military, through Samuel Aruwan; the Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, announced a lifting of the ban on telecommunications but that of motorcycles (and other ban like the closure of some local markets and the buying of fuel using jerrycans) is still in effect.
While the shutdown lasted, the people of Kaduna were attacked but could not cry out for help nor tell the world about their predicaments because they couldn’t make calls and did not have access to the internet. When a state government shuts down telecommunications, how then can individuals and communities call for help when attacked? Before this decision, people could call for help when under attack and security officers would be deployed to arrest the situation but that rarely happened in October and November 2021 because of the shutdown. For me, this strategy by the Kaduna State Government (and other northwestern states like Sokoto and Zamfara) is arguably the most absurd and abstract security decision since the return of civilian rule in May 1999. A simple but thorough SWOT analysis of the situation would have easily identified the pros and the cons of such a decision and the government would have ditched it. But does the Kaduna State Government truly care beyond public lip service?
This decision by the Kaduna State Government backed by the Federal Government is yet evidence that government in Nigeria is still anti-people and anti-development. For discerning minds, it should be clear that when that decision was made, the state government and the Nigerian military looked at the situation only from one angle; the angle of stopping armed herders, kidnappers and bandits from communicating with each other/from contacting relatives of their victims. They ignored, thehe reality that individuals and communities need the same telecommunication to pass vital information to security agencies and the government, and to, more importantly, call for help when under attack. In this moment, it is thus expedient to ask the question: did the shutdown on telecommunications and the ban on motorcycles stopped attacks by armed herders, kidnappers and bandits in Kaduna State while it lasted?
Two weeks ago (while the shutdown was still in effect) on the Kaduna State stretch of the Abuja – Kaduna expressway (which is now the most dangerous Nigerian road to travel on), daredevil bandits, who we must now call terrorists, attacked motorists, kidnapped many and killed a prominent Zamfara politician, Sagir Hamidu. Weeks before this attack, precisely on Sunday 31, October, 2021, the Emmanuel Baptist Church, Kakau Daji, in Chikun Local Government Area was attacked, two people were killed and more than 66 people were kidnapped. In Barakallahu, Igabi Local Government Area, bandits attacked the town and stole an unspecified number of cows. While the telecommunication shutdown was still in play, the Abuja – Kaduna rail line was also attacked and passengers were left stranded in the forest for four hours. Thankfully no life was lost. With these and many others, where then is the sense and rationality behind the decision by the Kaduna State Government? It was Chinua Achebe who said that when the bird learns to fly without perching; the hunter learns to shoot without missing. Evidentially, these terrorists, who we patronizingly call bandits and kidnappers, are evolving in their modus operandi. Wae cannot say the same of the government, particularly with this kind of horrible security decision; a decision that has not stopped attacks but has further impoverished the already very poor people of Kaduna State.
Do you live in Kaduna State and still smile? How can you smile when along with being denied access to telecommunication and the use of motorcycles for two months, the prices of food and the costs of services are now so high? Due to the shutdown, it is not surprising that many micro, small and medium scale businesses in Kaduna metropolis and other towns in the state are crumbling and shutting down, a situation that would predictably double, perhaps triple, the rate of crime in the state in the coming months – and with increase in crime, more woes for the ordinary masses; the lot without police escorts like those in government. In Kaduna State, and before the government shutdown of telecommunication and ban on motorcycle, a 12.5kg gas was N6000 but it is now N10, 000 while a tin of Titus sardines rose from N250 to N600. Bread was N300 but now N500. While these increases are not directly attributable to the shutdown and ban, the government decision contributed to a further increment in the prices and cost of goods and services in the state.
Woauld the Kaduna State Government, that did not give the people prior notice and time to adjust before the decision was implemented, claim not to know that the ban on the use of motorcycles, particularly for commercial purposes, has effectively “removed food” from the mouths of thousands of okada/achaba men and their dependants? In 2021, banning the use of motorcycles as a security strategy is as useless and meaningless like the “P” in “Psychology” and the “K” in “Knife”. The Kaduna State Government, other state government that still impose this type of ban, where citizens see no reasons are a clueless lot who know nothing about modern 21st security strategies and methods. Banning the commercial and private use of motorcycles in today’s world particularly in a poor and underdeveloped state like Kaduna because armed herders, kidnappers and bandits use them in their operations is both depressing and frustrating as it exposes the archaic and outdated mindset of those in government. And if you must ban okada, what austerity measures did you put in place before implementing the ban? Before the Borno State Government banned okada in the state, the governor; Prof Babagana Umara Zulum made provisions for keke napep (tricycles) and buses for those the ban affected. That is a responsible, compassionate and modern-thinking government; one that puts the interests of the ordinary people first. Borno State has bigger insecurity problems and challenges than Kaduna State.
Who would help us tell the Kaduna State Government that there are many 21st century security tactics and strategies that can deliver a safe and secure Kaduna State without the shut down of telecommunications and the ban of motorcycles, a decision that is painfully affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of long-suffering and law-abiding citizens of the state, and not only the bad guys it was meant for? As a better alternative, I expected the Kaduna State Government to cut down on unnecessary spending and frivolities, clamp down heavily on public sector corruption and invest the monies into installation of drones, CCTVs, surveillance cameras, GPS trackers, etc. With these 21st century security gadgets, the state government, working with the military, would be capable of separating the good eggs from the bad ones, without hurting the livelihoods of the former. With the current levels of science and technology in the marketplace, state governments in the country, in partnership with the federal government, can conveniently, without-boots-on-the-ground and in real time, monitor the activities and movements of individuals and/or groups who use motorcycles for kidnapping, banditry and criminal activities, and round them up. Recently, America during the Donald Trump presidency, without boots on the ground, killed a wanted Iranian military general. What did the Americans use in that operation? A weaponized drone.
Why can’t the Kaduna State governor and other governors in the country support the federal government by acquiring the latest security gadgets such as drones for the security agencies and install CCTVs and surveillance cameras in strategic locations in their states? But this is Nigeria where state governors/governments would rather spend negligible amounts to buy secondhand vehicles for the police, the military and the DSS in their states so they’d have the opportunity to pilfer the bigger chunk of the “security votes” they receive every month from the federal government; monies that they do not account for how they spend. Banning motorcycles; a source of daily income/survival and means of transportation for millions of ordinary long-suffering citizens is always their first, cheapest and go-to security option because it doesn’t affect their greed and wastefulness. In Kaduna metropolis, it is now common place to see longsuffering citizens trekking under the scorching sun while government officials cruise around town in their air-conditioned SUVs bought and serviced by the same poor trekking tax payers of the state. It is time for us to say enough is enough to government’s decisions that affect only the lives and livelihoods of law-abiding masses; the same people who the government has characteristically neglected for many years and has made their lives worse with the shutdown and ban. Ask government officials to sacrifice for the good of the state by cutting down on their salaries and allowances and they would give countless excuses as to why they have to earn so much.
Forget the politically correct speeches and statements made by Governor Nasir El-rufai and state officials as it is obvious that the Kaduna State Government, as with many other state governments in our country, lack the strategic and ‘human-face’ thinking and planning when making security and socioeconomic decisions that directly affects the ordinary masses. In one breathe, you ask for “community policing” where citizens are expected to pass vital information to security agencies and on the other you retrieve that support/collaboration by shutting down telecommunications and banning motorcycles. The reality is that many law-abiding citizens eke their daily bread from socioeconomic activities that the ban negatively affected – but of course it is easy for the power brokers in the state to make this kind of ill thought decision as they and their family members would not be affected by it. Do we not know the number of dependants the average commercial okada fellow caters for? The decision immediately threw many of them into abject poverty – and with increased poverty, new ‘recruits’ take to crime; kidnapping, terrorism, armed robbery, banditry, – and prostitution and drug abuse, the very things the state government wants to stop/control.
What is the international best practice for tackling insurgents, terrorists, kidnappers and bandits? Have we not learnt from the readily available examples and experiences of Colombia, Mexico and Somalia? At the risk of repetition, one of the many tested and trusted ways to tackle terrorism, banditry, kidnappings and criminality that would not require the shutting down of telecommunications or the banning of motorcycles is for the government to invest heavily in intelligence; human intelligence (humint), signal intelligence (sigint) and technological intelligence (techint), but especially techint. Investments in techint means there would be security satellites, CCTVs, surveillance cameras and other 21st century gadgets that monitor, track and filter telecommunications so as to identify security concerns and/or breaches. This is the global best practice around the world. Has anyone in the Kaduna government watched Will Smith’s Enemy of the State? Though a movie script, serious countries are going the way of Techint. Since the end of the Cold War, nations have steadily increased their security Techint but Nigeria, Africa’s giant, is lagging far behind as militarized and uniform security is still the norm.
How long shall the ordinary Nigerian bear the brunt of insecurity which is largely due to the gross ineptitude of government, past and present? Of course citizens have roles to play for safer societies but how can they play their part in the 21st century without telecommunication? The government would always say the masses should endure today’s hardships for a better tomorrow but have any tomorrow become better? When we were secondary school students, we heard of kidnappings in Mexico and Colombia but today, the chickens have come home to roost. Until the present leadership in Kaduna State (and the Federal Government) breaks from the norm of archaic and anti-people security decisions, corruption and wastefulness and deploy its resources; human and material, appropriately and proactively, it still a long road to Uhuru for security (and poverty alleviation) in Kaduna State.
