Presidential Election: Tinubu, Obi, Atiku make vague promises on security
A radical departure from the existing policy is needed to enhance safety, but the candidates’ proposed reforms miss the mark.
Eighteen presidential candidates will participate in Nigeria’s polls on 25 February. Three stand out — Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
The new president will be sworn in on 29 May and will be constitutionally mandated to manage Nigeria’s security governance architecture between 2023 and 2027. This election — the seventh since the country’s return to democracy in 1999 — will significantly impact policy direction.
Public safety and security in Nigeria are in a bad place — due mainly to the many armed groups active in the country. Over the past seven years, the government has invested over N12 trillion ($26.5 billion) in military assets, expanded the armed forces and focused on degrading violent extremist groups in the North East region.
Ironically, security has worsened in other parts of Nigeria: bandits and gangs are rife in the North-west; separatist agitators are causing conflict in the South-east; a herder-farmer crisis is ongoing in the North-central states; and urban violence is rife countrywide. Boko Haram’s two factions have expanded from the North-east to North-west and North-central states.
The corruption and abuse of security spending exacerbates Nigeria’s security crisis. Funds are provided to federal, state and local government officials to disburse at their discretion. Transparency International estimates that ‘secretive, unaccounted-for cash expenditures’ add up to over $670 million a year.
The new president must grapple with a broken state dominated by armed groups and socio-economic problems. This calls for a radical departure from old approaches. The drivers of banditry, violent extremism, kidnapping and other crimes must be confronted head-on through economic development plans that stem rising poverty and youth unemployment. The security and defence infrastructure also needs modernising, starting with police reform and better accountability in the military.
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