POLICING AND NATIONAL SECURITY

Adequate training is essential for security agencies to carry out their constitutional functions efficiently, argues BEM IBRAHIM GARBA

 Adequate training of military, law enforcement, and security personnel is crucial in assisting the government in achieving its core constitutional responsibility of upholding the security and welfare of the citizenry. In other words, the government can only succeed in protecting the lives and property of citizens with the cooperation of well-trained and empowered state agents.

Every general knows that no one goes to war with ill-prepared, poorly trained officers and men, expecting to come home with the crown of victory.  Poorly trained men and women will lead to fatal damages, losses, and humongous casualties.

The same applies to our everyday living and all spheres of human endeavor. No one jumps behind the steering of a passenger aircraft to convey passengers without being certified as a pilot; neither can anyone succeed in administering medication to patients without being first empowered with the relevant skills in medicine.

Sadly, our country, Nigeria, has, in the past two decades or so, witnessed heightened yet complex security concerns, some of which are alien to our culture and what we stand for as Africans. In all, efforts to decimate terrorism, kidnap for ransom, and similar violent crimes within our country have proven extremely difficult. This is attributable to several issues, including a lack of capacity to maximize the potential gains associated with the proficient and effective use of weaponry.

Weapon handling is a critical component of training to make one an exemplary law enforcement officer or soldier. It is an aspect of capacity building that broadly distinguishes state actors from the rest of the civilian populace, including criminal and threat elements. The federal government continues to invest billions of dollars in acquiring weapons to boost effective policing and national security.

These efforts are almost futile if those responsible for using them and protecting us cannot operate these multi-billion Dollar gadgets while carrying out their law enforcement duties and national security operations.

Good quality entry-level and recurrent training develops competence and proficiency, which breeds confidence, and many officers in our clime need more confidence in their skills to motivate them to discharge their functions.

One proven method to increase the confidence and proficiency of our men and women charged with the constitutional responsibility of protecting our country and our people is to improve weapons handling skills, which comes through constant training and practice.

Whether you are practicing with a patrol rifle, shotgun, handgun, or any other weapon system, improving the ability to accurately acquire and hit targets, reload, and apparent malfunctions will build confidence in using that system quickly and proficiently. Increased confidence will lead to an improved willingness to engage criminal and threat elements if incidents occur and there is a need to manage them.

Over the years, we have recorded causalities due to the inability of our men in uniform to use their weapons for the protection of citizens proficiently. We have had cases where the arms were accidentally turned against the citizens who should instead be protected. Rampant cases of “accidental” discharges have dispatched many of our brothers and sisters to their untimely graves; others have been incapacitated for life, while some others who are lucky to have survived will for their entire lifetime live with the psychological trauma.

This speaks to poor, inadequate training or the total absence of it. This also raises questions on how mentally prepared and sound some of our security agents are in discharging the arduous task of ensuring the protection of the lives and property of fellow citizens. The military, police, and indeed other para-military agencies in the country, even the vigilantes in our local communities and villages, have all been entangled in large-scale abuse of their weapons owing to inadequate training.

The 2020 #EndSARS protest still leaves a sour taste in the mouth on account of losses we recorded, losses that are directly linked with poor weapon handling and judgment as a result of inadequate training, psychological orderliness, or otherwise of those handling it, as well as total lack of respect for human rights or even value for human life.

From South to North, East to West, the streets oozed with the blood of innocent citizens mauled down in cold blood with weapons acquired for their protection. The Lekki Tollgate mass shooting that caught the attention of the global community highlights the need for much more training to enable our law enforcement and military stakeholders to carry out their constitutional functions properly.

In 2020, Mr. Ndubuisi Emenike, the Action Alliance (AA’s) candidate in the Imo North Senatorial District in the 2019 National Assembly election, was killed by an official of NSCDC during a celebration party held in honor of APC’s Miriam Onuoha, the winner of the Okigwe North Federal Constituency.

The NSCDC operative attached to Mr. Emenike as his orderly was said to have been shooting consistently into the air and mistakenly shot his boss, disrupting the party. Before help could come his way, the politician was already pronounced dead. Just last year, officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) killed a two-year-old Ivan Omorhiakogbe with a “stray bullet” during a raid in the Okapanam Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State and equally left his brother with a life-threatening injury. There are many similar cases across every nook and cranny of the country.

 It is heart-warming to note that relevant training institutions for security and defense officers are considering modifying their curriculum to provide adequate training that will assist in tackling bandits, Boko Haram, and other violent gangs terrorizing the country and fostering an enhanced relationship with the civil populace.

In the United States, soldiers must undergo rigorous processes to test their marksmanship in handling small arms — rifles, pistols, and automatic rifles. The U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, has made it a policy that whether in a combat job or not, every personnel will constantly undergo training to hit targets and have the other primary “tactical” weapon skills needed for combat. Those skills include soldiers’ ability to load, reload, and otherwise handle their weapons just as they would in the blur and stress of combat.

While Nigeria could be rated on the average in performance within the resources and facilities available for training and retraining of security forces, it is pertinent to note that partnership with the private sector is key towards actualizing the skill set that would make them a sensation on the job.

Routine and comprehensive training not only empowers the personnel but also engrains safety measures to the rest of the citizens, reducing the likelihood of accidents and collateral damage during operations. Also, well-trained and highly skilled military and law enforcement forces act as deterrents to potential threats. The knowledge that security forces are proficient in weapon handling will dissuade criminals, threat elements, and adversaries from engaging in hostile activities.

Beyond acquiring weapons, commensurate efforts should be made to balance acquisition with the construction of modern facilities where regular training will take place. That is why the call for partnership with the private sector to construct more shooting ranges across the country has continued to gain momentum.

Reliable sources and surveys inform the writer that many military and law enforcement personnel have not been able to use ranges for years. This is due to the lack of adequate training infrastructure and budgets to purchase training ammunition. This training gap portends a grave danger to the populace.

The Office of the National Security Adviser, the Ministry of Defence, the Police Service Commission, and indeed ALL other agencies of government in the security value chain must accord more priority towards enhancing the weapons handling skills of our security personnel through regular and relevant training that could measure with global best practices.

This way, we would have less of the catastrophe of accidental discharges, stray bullets, and all other concerns that jeopardize the security and safety of our citizens from those assigned to protect them.

Garba is the MD/CEO of Gray Insignia, a security consultancy firm, and writes bem.garba@grayinsignia.co