National security adviser says he is unable to act because of the difficulty in procuring equipment

NATIONAL security adviser Retired Major General Babagana Monguno has attributed the failure to combat the growing insecurity in the country to the inability to get hold of adequate technology which he blamed on a difficult procurement process.

Nigeria is currently being wracked by chronic insecurity with kidnapping, insecurity, banditry and terrorism all rife, making large swathes of the country no-go areas. Security officials have come in for criticism for failing to act but General Monguno said they are not to blame as getting hold of the right equipment is proving difficult.

According to General Monguno, Nigeria’s security agencies are not deploying adequate technology to combat insecurity because of the difficult procurement process. He also attributed the non-deployment of adequate technology to its expensive nature but said the government is trying its best to meet up with its responsibilities.

General Monguno  said: “So the first question has to do with why is it so difficult to deploy technology. One, technology is expensive and secondly, technology also takes time to acquire since we do not produce thus very delicate equipment.

“It’s not as if the government is not making any effort to acquire but we need to know who to acquire this technology from, where, when and there are certain processes. For now, I know we have but things are inadequate, so to the government, it’s a continuous process."

In addition, he added that one of the major causes of insecurity in Nigeria is the porosity of the country’s borders. General Monguno said the government is working with neighbouring countries to ensure that illegal entry into Nigeria is curtailed.

Nigeria has also witnessed the highest number of school children abductions and hostage-taking since 2014 when the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted. Besides, the country also witnessed the highest number of jailbreaks in a single year as no fewer than four prisons were affected last year.

In the same vein, bandits have made some states in the northwest and north-central geo-political zones no-go areas. Although the President Muhammadu Buhari administration repeatedly claimed that Nigerians are more secure under it than under the previous administrations, this assertion has been disputed by facts on the ground.