We are in support of the just constituted military board of enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the conduct of soldiers who purportedly fired shots on Wednesday while the General Officer Commanding the 7th Division Maimalari cantonment Maiduguri was addressing the troops.
In a democracy this is a dangerous development. The board of enquiry must therefore look at the root cause of the restiveness within the military formations. The issue here goes far beyond insubordination. For it is yet another example of a republic ill at ease with itself.
Wary Nigerians have every reason to be cynical. Nothing has come out, for example, of the previous ‘Akure incidence.” To tackle the underlying causes will require a deep look at how the burgeoning defence budget and the ubiquitious “security votes” have been spent.
For with the performance of the armed forces against the Boko Haram insurgents as well as the lack of effectiveness in dealing with the oil theft in the Niger Delta we are certainly in a quandary.
It now appears that we are spending money not on enhancing the capacity and welfare of the personnel in our armed forces, but on defense contractors. This is why a parliamentary enquiry is urgently required.
The world has clearly become a more dangerous place. This is why the armed forces of sovereign states must be realigned with the current situation which is clearly different from conventional warfare. It is now clear that our defence procurement must be made more cost effective and open to parliamentary scrutiny.
We know for example that when in 1960 President John .F. Kennedy came into office a major priority was to make defence procurement (what we absurdly refer to as “contracts”) in the United States of America more cost effective. To do so, he appointed Robert McNamara, a man who had shown great managerial sagacity as the CEO of Ford Motors as his Defence Secretary.
Let us learn from this. Those who are restive in the Barracks should have the reason for their discontent looked into. The welfare of the troops has also to be looked into. To do so, defence spending must be streamlined, made more cost effective and directed towards building a modern, appropriately equipped and well-motivated armed forces.
The management process of the armed forces must now be modernised in line with best practices. Any other course will be dangerous for a fragile democracy.