‘President’s Shoot-At-Sight Order Belated’ – University Don

A don, Augustine Ikelegbe has faulted the presidential order of shoot-at-sight and the imposition of no-flying-zones as a solution to the insecurity in the country, describing it as a belated decision.

Ikelegbe, who is a Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science atthe University of Benin (UNIBEN) said if such measures were taken years earlier, it would have slowed down the proliferation of arms and brazen display of arms by individuals who are not permitted to bear such arms.

Prof. Ikelegbe said this while delivering a lecture entitled “Proliferation of Small Arms and the Steaming Conundrum of Insecurity in Nigeria: Prospect for Control and Sustainable Security” at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in memory of the late Director- General of the Institute, Prof. Habu Galadima.

He said effective and immediate measures should be taken at appropriate times for containment of arms proliferation.

According to him, improved sophistication in the arming and equipment of the security and defence forces were imperative in fighting insecurity. He emphasised the need for use of improved technology such as drones against criminal herders in the ungoverned spaces and also the need for increased air attacks on bandits’ camps and kidnappers’ dens by more sophisticated aircraft.

He said: “There has to be re-orientation from the dominant approach which has  been hard core, involving increased deployments, armaments, and armed excessive force which has hardly effectively resolved conflicts, violence and insurgencies, to more broad, non-kinetic and peace-building approaches,” he said.

Prof. Ikelegbe added that the LEA sector has to be restructured in line with the practice of federalism, to decentralise command and control and deployment of personnel, adding that Community Policing has been bandied for some time but its implementation, reach and practice is still very limited and the results yet to be broadly felt.

Prof. Ikelegbe noted that good governance was crucial to the performance of state roles in public sector management, economy and security.

The Vice-President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo praised the virtues of the late Director-General of the institute, adding that within the short time that he piloted the affairs of the National Institute, there were tremendous transformation and innovations.