Contrary to popular belief, the Presidency has never ordered the dismantling of all military checkpoints along Nigerian highways.The National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) told PRNigeria after a meeting with top military and security officers in his office in Abuja on Thursday (July 9, 2015) that President Muhammadu Buhari never ordered a blanket dismantling of checkpoints from the highways.
According to Dasuki, military roadblocks in flashpoints will continue to be maintained while those in relatively peaceful areas will be dismantled but soldiers will still be positioned in those areas while not blocking roads.
He said it is both conventional and a global practice for governments to increase security measures whenever insecurity is heightened and appealed to citizens to endure attendant inconveniences as they are temporary.
Dasuki said that the essential security checkpoints in vulnerable areas are ‘necessary inconvenience’ to ensure criminals and terrorists do not have easy passage. He cited some arrests made recently including that of a mastermind of bomb attacks in some towns who were nabbed by Nigerian troops at such checkpoints.
While condemning indiscriminate proliferation of security checkpoints by unauthorised bodies, he said “We will continue to ensure that the necessary or essential security checkpoints are not avenues for extortion, indiscipline and other forms of corrupt practices that can exacerbate traffic flow and cause road accidents.”
He added that the government is deploying new sophisticated scanners and detectors in some areas to ease traffics and to identify movements of strange objects, concealed weapons and criminal suspects.
“With effective use of technology which minimises physical contacts between security personnel and citizens, the time spent at designated security checkpoints will ultimately be reduced,” he said.
He said that whenever necessary, the soldiers will mount their points to conduct security screening in emergency situations and for quick response.
While condemning indiscriminate proliferation of security checkpoints by unauthorised bodies, he said “We will continue to ensure that the necessary or essential security checkpoints are not avenues for extortion, indiscipline and other forms of corrupt practices that can exacerbate traffic flow and cause road accidents.”
He added that the government is deploying new sophisticated scanners and detectors in some areas to ease traffics and to identify movements of strange objects, concealed weapons and criminal suspects.
“With effective use of technology which minimises physical contacts between security personnel and citizens, the time spent at designated security checkpoints will ultimately be reduced,” he said.
He said that whenever necessary, the soldiers will mount their points to conduct security screening in emergency situations and for quick response.
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The opinion expressed by the NSA (now former) is germane. Unfortunately every individual security personnel has an agenda, which is personal to them. The idea, intension and objective of any action at the Policy/Tactical Level of Command may be miscarried during implementation by the officers at the operational command level. That is betraying the Tactical policy actions in the security platform by the operational field security personnel across board. I am a professional disaster manager and a humanitarian worker. I am always in the North East roads during my humanitarian service delivery. Sometimes when you encounter some security operatives who are civil also , you would hail the thinking at the tactical command level, but the contrary if the action is otherwise. No gain denying the fact that some security personnel are already cut out for the type of Car or house they will build with the proceed from Road Blocks, if they are made to remain in such posting, say, for just three Months. It is disgusting what travelers experience on the Nigerian roads from the banditry of some of our security operatives. In Adamawa State,Where I just returned, for instance, travelers label Military Road Blocks as ATM Machine. I think there is a disconnect between the field operations personnel and those of the Tactical Command levels. We should all look inwards and fortify the nation’s security architecture for effectiveness.