Occasionally, certain nations exhibit a remarkable ability to deliberately mislead themselves in ways that confound outsiders.
For example, consider Scotland. The epidemic known by the foreboding term “Black Death” struck England in 1348, Scotland’s neighbor and longtime foe. The disease’s moniker came from the fact that the affected people’s fingers, toes, and noses became black and were gangrenous as their tissues perished before the owners did. Numerous English people perished. In English towns, bodies were hauled around in carts and heaped up on street corners.
When Scotland saw in 1349 how vulnerable England had become to the plague, they could no longer contain their lust to attack their ancient foes. They mounted a daring expedition from the north, penetrating far into the beleaguered nation. The English eventually turned around and drove the Scots back. The plague was carried by the defeated Scots as they fled England, went home, and spread it, killing a third of the nation’s population at the time. This was the worst thing that could have happened.
Nigeria’s history is replete with instances the country and its citizens sabotaged themselves in often spectacular fashions, much like the Scots did. A recent example is detailed in the ‘Auditor-General of the Federation’s Annual Report on Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses Issues in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the Year Ended December 31, 2019.’
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The report, which was released on January 3 of this year, indicates, among other things, that the Nigeria Police Force was unable to account for 178,459 guns. This comprises about 88,078 AK-47 firearms.
Nigerians are accustomed to seeing these missing weapons, which are frequently draped over the shoulders of terrorists, robbers, and militants or used to threaten those who have the misfortune of becoming their victims. We question how the nation’s security situation got so poor when these weapons from the state armory end up in the hands of these criminals.
Authorities have frequently attributed Libya’s instability on Gaddafi’s downfall and the breakdown of security in the nation. The argument that guns from Libya have overflowed into Nigeria may have some merit, but how frequently have we really seen these weapons in the hands of apprehended criminals or retrieved by the armed forces during operations? Weapons seized from criminals are frequently displayed by the army or police, and these weapons frequently have a remarkable similarity to those taken from their arsenal. There’s no sign of the sophisticated ones from Libya.
The police are overburdened in their attempt to protect the lives of approximately 200 million Nigerians, and they have lost 178,459 firearms—roughly half the number of police officers—that would have otherwise been used to fan the flames of insecurity in the nation. The military is overworked today, fighting enemies they helped create.
Perhaps it’s time to learn some lessons now that these beasts, fed on the milk of our national resources, have our civilian population under control and our security forces maintained at a distance, mauling, devouring, and wrecking.
The Scots discovered that, occasionally, attempting to outwit the opponent and take advantage of their ignorance or misfortune might have unintended consequences. Officers who believed they could take advantage of the naivete of bandits and the early iterations of Boko Haram have since learned that feeding a monster a pint of milk will eventually grow to the size of an arm.
NAIC report on the armaments trafficking in the Niger Delta was buried, which is a national tragedy. If the report from the Auditor General is disregarded, it will be an even more tragic event.
It is past time for the cops to undergo rehabilitation. Going forward, building on these flawed foundations—where 178,459 weapons are lost by a professional police force in the market square as if they were broken beads—will signal calamity. This administration should start by carefully reviewing this report if it is sincere about combating insecurity. How did this weaponry disappear? Who is to blame, and what steps can we take to ensure that this doesn’t happen again?
The ongoing cooperation between the bandits and Nigerian security personnel is as risky and rash as invading a country with a plague and expecting to escape unharmed. This cooperation leads to weaponry from the government arsenal winding up in the hands of criminals. That is not how it happens.