Citizenship question and national security in Nigeria (2)

The problem area for national security is where any member of this type of community appears before an immigration officer without any proof of Nigerian citizenship in the face of any environmental disaster, conflict or terrorist attack or climate change-induced trans-border migration, etc. So, the dilemma of Immigration Service officials at the border towns across Nigeria in the discharge of their statutory functions is better imagined in the face of the affinity, homogeneous socio-cultural relationships, language and common ancestors of border communities.

Nigerians need to carry out a national discussion on these issues in order to be able to understand, appreciate and enhance the country’s security by a proper citizenship acquisition, identification and protections. This national discussion is necessary because we must not only protect our sovereignty against domestic, foreign terrorist and criminal entities, we must also protect it jealously against those who wish or are intent on breaching our border laws out of envy, which is a common attitude of insurgents, sometimes promoted by some nations or their nationals towards Nigeria, especially in these border communities.

The Nigerian chief of defence staff, Alex Badeh, was reported in The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday, January 7th, 2015 (page 3) to have lamented the non-cooperation of the neighbouring African countries, especially Chad and Niger, in dealing with the insurgents as they attacked Baga town in Bornu State recently. Yet Nigeriens and Chadians are found all over Nigerian cities, towns and villages, mostly as security guards and gatekeepers in people’s homes. You find them in almost every city street in Nigeria as motorcycle riders, truck pushers, cattle rearers, farmers, Muslim missionaries, etc. Many of them can be found in highly sensitive government establishments as security guards, etc. They are in every nook and cranny of Nigeria to the extent that they know our villages and forests better than we do. Where is our collective security and safety in their hands? It appears they heard the wakeup call by the chief of defence staff.

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The failure to create a foolproof Nigerian national identification scheme that can clearly tell and identify a Nigerian easily has the consequence in the low rating for our fight against insurgents terrorizing the country today. The terrorists are aided by the homogeneous nature of our border communities and the near total neglect of infrastructural provision for border settlements, which demoralizes many members of the border communities into developing some soft spot for viral elements in their settlements. These, coupled with the extreme discretion given to security agencies at the border posts saddled with the responsibility of securing Nigeria’s territorial integrity with flawed citizenship laws, account for the terrorist camps around the border areas. In most cases, criminals incubate at the border communities, which is a haven for criminal activities. Many of the criminals operate from these places conveniently against the rest of us in Nigeria. They attack us in Nigeria and retreat or slide across our border unnoticed to “their homes”, leaving us in pains, shock and national anguish. Now this cycle is repeated often to the extent of national distress and embarrassment.

But we don’t have to continue like this. It is time to act. We must all fight this monster collectively, even though from different angles. Blame game will not help us in any way. We have to do something in the right direction by, first, amending our citizenship laws. We need to create a proper legal framework for citizenship acquisition, identification and provision.

I think it is time to get our citizenship laws right through constitutional amendment. The fortification of our citizenship acquisition and identification scheme through proper legal framework is an immediate necessity. There is need to reduce excessive discretionary powers of our security agencies within the border communities. More attention should be paid to border communities, creating the consciousness of being a Nigerian citizen in body, soul and spirit among Nigerian settlers at the border towns. We have to make them feel that they are also a part of Nigeria as a whole. This way we can get them to contribute usefully to the peace, progress and general well-being of Nigeria, including providing assistance in our effort at creating a modern society, where contamination by viral human elements will be minimal, especially from the border settlements all around Nigeria.

We equally need to replace the legal framework for our security agencies, especially at the border posts, which allows for excessive discretion with a clear, concise and standardized regulation with uniform functions or duty regulations around the country in line with the constitutional regulations and global best practice. This area of law needs amendment before we can effectively harvest citizenship data for identity card management scheme, as currently being done by the National Identity Card Management Commission.

As it is, our constitutional provision on who is a Nigerian citizen is foggy. We need to properly define, in a very clear and definite constitutional manner, who is a Nigerian citizen. Until we are able to solve the legal riddle of who a Nigerian citizen is, harvesting individual data, in my view, will remain a mirage and a colossal waste of scarce national resources.

Daniel Daudu Makolo