By Chioma Iruke
Former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai has kicked against the idea of Nigeria hiring the services of mercenaries to tackle its burden of insecurity, saying it would amount to “commercializing” of the defence system and lives of the citizenry.
Gen. Agwai who made the statement while appearing on Channels Television NewsNight, noted that it would further portray desperation and a disbelief on the capacity of the country’s military.
Instead, he suggested that the money to be used to procure the services of mercenaries, should be judiciously channelled into improving the capacity of the internal Armed Forces to achieve the desired result.
“By the time we go to using mercenaries, we are acting out of desperation. Because in anything private, you cannot set a boundary because the aim of private service is commercial, so you have commercialized your defence, you have commercialized your citizens. Because they are here to make money and go, they can get rid of anybody that gets in their way to get the job done, whether it is a criminal or an innocent citizen.
“These mercenaries come under the umbrella of the armed forces. There is no morality or human feelings. I am saying this country has enough knowledgeable professionally sound officers both serving and retired, given that task, they can deliver. Nigeria has done well in peace keeping missions abroad, why can we not do well at home,” he stated.
He further observed that part of the problem of insecurity is traceable to Nigeria’s high rate of a “growing young population” who are unemployed, and forced to channel their energy into crime.
The veteran held that Nigeria has not been strategic with its security architecture, especially in terms of defining the type of military needed, and understanding the type of crime it is fighting.
Gen. Agwai also suggested a national dialogue on the nation’s defence, and called for the national interest to be placed above sectional, state, religious and local interests, so as to achieve results.
“I believe that what we need is to sit down and plan a national defence because security is everyone’s business. We should ask what we need and the next steps to take.
“One problem we are having is that we have too many experts in this country and instead of complimenting the government, they try to outshine themselves.
“Until we put national interest above, sectional, state, religious and local interests, we can’t get results,” he added.
