•Shuns intelligence sharing
America says it has given Nigeria $2,032.6 billion (N329.28 billion) in the past three years to fight insurgents, including Boko Haram, but there is no word on intelligence sharing because Washington does not trust Abuja to keep secrets.
Alex Adeh
Nigerian international experts attribute America’s reluctance to provide information to media reports of the infiltration of the corridors of power by the jihadists to whom officials leak intelligence.
TheNiche reported on June 1 that Nigeria itself has voted about N2 trillion for security in the past two years, a huge chunk of which is spent on the fight against Boko Haram in the North Eastern states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa.
Questions over capability, expenditure
However, the battle seems too tough for the armed forces to win, prompting experts in international affairs to query the prudence of expenditure funds and Nigeria’s image among international partners.
United States embassy spokesman, Sean J. McIntosh, disclosed to TheNiche in an e-mail enquiry that his country has given Nigeria $2,032.6 billion to combat insurgency, and that Nigeria’s neighbours – Cameroon, Chad, and Niger – are not left out of the American largesse, yet the insurgents roam the borders free.
Indication that the U.S. may not be sharing intelligence with Nigeria emerged from the response of McIntosh who did not make any reference to it, despite the fact that it was the crux of the this newspaper’s enquiry.
The email enquiry to McIntosh read in part: “What we actually want to know is about security assistance, particularly with regard to helping in curtailing the Boko Haram insurgency in the country.
“Specifically, we want to know whether the U.S. is sharing intelligence with Nigeria, and if not, why? Any other information that could assist us will equally be welcomed.”
He replied: “The United States is working towards assisting Nigeria and its neighbours – Cameroon, Chad, and Niger – to address their critical border security needs.
“In particular, we hope to assist these countries, through the Global Security Contingency Fund, to develop institutional and tactical capabilities to enhance joint efforts to counter Boko Haram and to promote their increased cross-border cooperation to counter Boko Haram.
“U.S. assistance to Nigeria amounts to $626.9 million in fiscal year 2012, $699.8 million in fiscal year 2013, and an estimated $705.9 million in fiscal year 2014.”
Elsewhere, America is bracing up for air and probably ground assault against the Islamic State to ultimately destroy the jihadists who claimed to have established a caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
But against Boko Haram, it is reluctant in sharing vital intelligence with Nigeria. This necessitated the enquiry into the assistance the U.S. has rendered to Nigeria in its fight against the insurgents, specifically in intelligence sharing.
While the U.S. embassy in Abuja provided information on funding, it avoided responding to the question on intelligence sharing, despite its capability to track Boko Haram.
TheNiche reliably gathered that the U.S. has mapped out Sambisa forest in Borno State and has evidence of where the abducted Chibok girls are kept.
The Americans reportedly told Nigerians that the terrorists have mined the forest and that U.S. President Barack Obama is reluctant to deploy troops because of the fear of political backlash any American casualty may generate.
This blunt message was said to have been given to National Security Adviser (NSA), Dasuki Sambo, when he went to Washington recently to plead with the Americans for a change of heart.
Boko Haram infiltration
Alaba Ogunsanwo, a professor of international relations at Lead City University, Ibadan and former Nigerian Ambassador to Belgium, said the reluctance of the U.S. to share intelligence with Nigeria may be connected with reports that Boko Haram has infiltrated the administration of President Goodluuk Jonathan.
“What I saw in the newspapers as the reason given was that the Nigerian side was porous and that if they (U.S.) give such information, they are not sure whether the information they are giving out will be to sympathisers of Boko Haram within the Nigerian armed forces,” Ogunsanwo explained.
“And they have the right to do that. Remember that our own president stated that Boko Haram sympathisers were everywhere.
“They were in the armed forces, within his cabinet, so, if he said that, then the U.S. intelligence people are saying, this information, if we pass it on, they are not sure if they are passing it to somebody who has sympathy for Boko Haram. That is their position.
“This is based on what the newspapers are reporting. What the newspapers are reporting cannot be said to be secret. It is in the public domain. The embassies send this back home.
“All the embassies have intelligence officers within them, and therefore, they know what is going on when they look at our newspapers. They get information from there. To that extent, they know what is going on.”
No resolve to quash insurgents
In the view of Akin Oyebode, a professor of international law, Abuja has failed to get its acts in order, the major reason America is reluctant to share information with it.
Said he: “It’s not only the U.S. that promised help. Britain promised, France promised, even Israel promised. But it seems to me that they think they might be casting pearl before swine, because the Nigerian state itself has not demonstrated sufficient capacity.
“They are also humiliating the Nigerian military. We’ve heard stories of desertion, what some apologists have called tactical manoeuvre – 500 Nigerian soldiers seeking refuge in Cameroon, suffering the indignity of being disarmed and being treated like a ragtag army.
“Quite sincerely, Nigeria has not demonstrated sufficient panache in terms of putting its house in order. When you show great resolve, then you can ask for help.
“The Yoruba have a saying that the man who wants his load lifted to his head with the help of others will, at least, bring the load up before people will help him. Nigeria has not demonstrated sufficient know-how, capability, and resolve to wrestle the Boko Haram.
“I am not making an apology for the West; I know the United States has drones stationed in Niger. You saw what the United States did to Al-Shabbah with those drones last week, killing their leaders. Israel, you know what they did to Hamas in Gaza.
“And then these countries have satellite capability to pinpoint movements and location. So, you asked a very important question – why are these countries not availing Nigeria of superior intelligence, superior material and superior ability to organise?
“It’s a question that should border every patriot. Do they wish us bad or do they want Nigeria to endure a low intensity conflict that will wear us down? Who really is behind Boko Haram? We have to know. These people are not wizards. At least, human beings are helping them.”
Little result for N1.08b spent per day
TheNiche reported on June 1 that in the first four months of 2014 alone, Abuja gave the military N130.7 billion, according to Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who said then that another N3.8 billion had been approved and would soon be released.
About N968.127 billion is budgeted for defence this year, from which N130.7 billion was disbursed between January and April.
That means the military spent N32.675 billion each month from January to April this year, or N1.089 billion per day, the lion share of which was consumed in the battle against Boko Haram.
Troops’ low morale
Yet, the military is ill-equipped and poorly motivated to counter Boko Haram. As a result, two mutinies took place in Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri in a space of one week, one of which almost cost the life of then General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major General Abubakar Mohammed.
Angry soldiers complained of not having the kind of arms and ammunition Boko Haram fighters flaunt every time they engage them in a fight, hence the cause of the several deaths of their colleagues.
A report in The New York Times on May 24 said: “There is a view among diplomats here (Abuja) and with their governments at home that [Nigeria’s] military is so poorly trained and armed, and so riddled with corruption, that not only is it incapable of finding the girls, it is also losing the broader fight against Boko Haram.”
Daily Mail of the United Kingdom published a more damning report in its Mailonline edition on May 28 that Nigerian soldiers are issued only “60 bullets” for an operation against Boko Haram.
“Nigerian troops have complained they are not properly paid, are dumped in dangerous bush with no supplies and that the Boko Haram extremists holding the girls are better equipped than they are.
“Some soldiers have said officers enriching themselves off the defence budget have no interest in halting the five-year-old uprising that has killed thousands,” the newspaper said.
The Economist, in its edition of May 10, also took a swipe at Nigeria’s military.
It said: “America has operated drones from a base in neighbouring Niger since 2012, but Nigeria’s government has long refused American requests to be allowed to do the same from Nigerian territory.
“Moreover, Nigerians are proud of their army, the biggest in Africa, with its long history of contributions to peacekeeping missions, most recently in Mali.
“And they are also notably secretive and prickly about its operations – and the low standards of soldiery which foreign experts would see.
“Though Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the north-east a year ago, his army has dismally failed to defeat Boko Haram.
“Corruption, Nigeria’s great scourge, is another reason for foreign military advisers to keep their distance. Nigeria’s soldiers say that commanders pocket the bulk of their salaries, leaving them with little incentive to fight a well-equipped guerrilla movement that knows the rugged terrain and forests.
“Why risk death at the hands of Boko Haram for no reward? It is hard, in such conditions, to see how outsiders could raise Nigerian troops’ morale, let alone improve their military skills.”
Jonathan’s explanation
To justify the effectively handling of Boko Haram, however, Jonathan and his Defence Chief, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, argue that the government is not just dealing with Boko Haram, but Al-Qaeda in West and Central Africa bent on destabilising Nigeria.
A retired Major, Shankara Ibrahim, urged the government to do a thorough audit of the budget of the Defence Ministry, particularly allocations to the military in the past four years.
He said there is a possibility that some generals have been profiting from the insurgency by diverting money allocated for soldiers’ pay and logistics.
A text message sent to Information Minister, Labaran Maku, to confirm the information given by the U.S. embassy was not replied at press time.
