Insecurity: Ex-DSS Boss, Ray Nkemdirim, Cautions Against Foreign Aid, Says Nigeria Must Learn From Afghanistan

A former Director of Operations of the Department Of State Services, DSS, Chief Ray Nkemdirim has cautioned against relying on foreign help as insecurity continues to bedevil the country, insisting that solutions to our security challenges must be home-grown.

The security expert spoke recently on the topic, “Insecurity As A Threat To Development” at an event to mark the 30th anniversary since creation of Abia state.

While highlighting some of the security challenges confronting the state to include, kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery, herder/farmers clashes, border skirmishes, car snatching, chieftaincy tussles, pipeline vandalism in oil-bearing communities, secessionist agitation, and hijack of the agitation by criminals, known and unknown gunmen attacks, attacks on security formations and the unlawful release of detainees, he expressed gratitude to God that Abia is not confronted with terrorism as with other parts of the country.

“Thankfully we do not have terrorism and insurgency here and we pray we will never get there.

“Thankfully also, most of these vices appear more recurrent in the same LGAs, making it easier to concentrate combat efforts and effectively manage security resources within specific geographical areas” he added.

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He insisted that irrespective of whatever happens, seeking foreign help is not the way out for Nigeria to overcome her current security challenges, insisting that a homegrown approach is an ultimate solution.

He added, “Solutions to potential security threats to the development of Abia State, must be home-grown, taking into account the peculiarities of the State. I took a liking to a quote from an ordinary Zambian citizen, Daniel Simwinga. He says: ‘as soon as we (Africans) have problems, we ask someone to take care of them for us. We ask the Europeans. We ask the Americans. We ask the Chinese. This is not development’

“Security or no insecurity, you cannot even develop if you want to rely on outsiders. No foreign country will willingly transfer technology to you to develop. That is why third world or developing countries that have become developed today, essentially had to steal technology.

“In the course of my public life, I have seen that reliance on help from outside often attracts only half-hearted responses particularly where the donor’s interest is not favoured.”

He continued, “The Chibok girls kidnap case is one that I cannot forget easily because it marked a turning point in my perception of the sincerity of foreign assistance in fighting insecurity. Whatever security challenges we face in this country today, we must fight and confront them ourselves. Nobody from outside will do it for us.

“As I look at the scenario that is playing out again today, I can only but regret that we are yet to learn from our mistakes of the past.

“Our security focus is still directed at reactive measures rather than proactive ones. Intelligence gathering is key to any serious effort to contain our security challenges. Weapons alone cannot guarantee our security. Yes, we have recently acquired twelve A-29 Super Tucano fighter aircraft at the whopping cost of $496m (N255bn) from the US. They arrived last month precisely on the 22nd of July 2021. But ironically just as the jets were coming in, a Nigerian Airforce jet piloted by Flt. Lt. Abayomi Dairo was shot down in Zamfara State by bandits.

“In February this year, an airforce aircraft on a mission to rescue kidnapped school children in Niger State crashed in Abuja killing all personnel on board.

“In April this year, an Alpha jet was shot down in Borno by suspected jihadists.

“The biggest shock was to come in May 2021, when the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) was killed in a plane crash alongside ten (10) other military officers in Kaduna.

“Your guess is as good as mine as to how many millions of dollars are lost each time there is a plane crash.

“We are currently faced with asymmetric warfare in which the enemies live anonymously in our midst and therefore difficult to detect. Only sound intelligence can detect them; be they terrorists, insurgents, bandits, killer herdsmen, militants, unknown gunmen, rapists, etc. Big weapons and sophisticated bombers cannot detect them.

“Despite all the heavy weapons of war amassed by the Americans and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, not one was used. It took superior intelligence gathering by the American CIA to defeat and dismantle the Soviet Union.

“Current events unfolding in Afghanistan reveal that the US sunk in over $2trn in 20 years on the war in that country, yet it could not defeat the will of local tribesmen, commonly referred to as the Taliban.

“The state of insecurity in Nigeria today calls for serious re-appraisal of our crime–fighting methods if we must avert the current threats posed to our collective developmental efforts. As it were, if we do not act now and allow criminal elements to continue to hold us to ransom, then our economic fortunes will continue to plummet and we will find ourselves in a state far worse than what it was before the advent of the present democratic experience.

“Only recently, former Central Bank Governor and deposed Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, while celebrating his sixtieth birthday on 15th August 2021 in Kano, said that as a result of rising insecurity fuelled by increasing poverty, high inflation, unemployment, increasing out-of-school children, etc, the average income of a Nigerian today is exactly what it was in 1980. In effect, no real progress in forty years.”