The Nigerian Army and Internal Security Operations in the Fourth Republic

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of the Nigerian Army in the management of internal security in the Fourth Republic. The deployment of the army on Internal Security Operations (ISOs) has dramatically increased since the return to democratic governance on May 29 1999. This is due to the liberalization of the political space which came as a result of the demystification of the 33-year military dictatorship that suppressed popular dissent and agitations from interest groups. The period of military dictatorship also took a serious toll on professionalism, operational effectiveness and accountability in the military. Another factor that is responsible for the excessive deployment of army on ISOs is the fact that the Nigeria Police Force that is constitutionally charged with the responsibility of tackling internal security challenges is largely poorly funded, ill-equipped and ill-trained to handle them. These factors have often made civilian authorities to heavily rely on the expertise of army and its sisters’ forces, the navy and air-force to manage internal security challenges. In effect, the regular engagements of its personnel have made the organization to assume the position of the first line of internal security defence which ordinarily is the role of the police. The data for this study was generated through primary and secondary data. While the primary data was sourced from officers of the Nigerian Army, civilians from the ministry of defence, legislators and academics, the secondary data was elicited from journal articles, books, archival materials, newspapers and so on. The study found out that the Nigerian Army has, so far, successfully played the role managing the country’s internal security effectively and efficiently to the extent that it has been able to prevent the democratic Fourth Republic from collapsing like the previous republics that were cut short by military officers with inordinate political ambitions. The army remains the bastion of Nigeria’s unity as its men and women have continued to keep the disparate entities within the country together as a corporate entity. However, the regular engagements of the army on ISOs have exposed its shortcomings, which include inadequate funding, personnel and training deficit, equipment and logistics deficit, human rights abuses and corruption within the institution. In order to address these challenges, the chapter recommends that the federal government and the National Assembly should ensure increased budgetary funding to the army which is very critical towards equipping the institution for better performance of ISOs. The army authorities should introduce human rights education in the army training modules as well as set up human rights desks in theatres of ISOs. These efforts will help to professionalize its men and women in conducting effective and efficient ISOs. More importantly, the federal government needs to empower the police and other traditional agencies of internal security management through increased funding so that these agencies can adequately equip their capacities in order to discharge their ISOs effectively and efficiently.