NASS uniquely placed to drive reform in Nigeria – DG NILDS
The Director-General, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Prof. Abubakar O. Sulaiman, has disclosed that legislative arms of the national assembly is uniquely placed to drive the reform process of the government.
Prof. Sulaiman stated this while speaking some members of the legislative arm on enhancing the role of parliamentary committees in fostering inter-agency collaboration, held in Abuja.
“This underscores the importance of this workshop targeted at security and defence based committees of the National Assembly and representatives of the various security and intelligence agencies. Whereas all arms of government have a responsibility in this regard, the legislature is uniquely placed to drive the reform process.
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He said that the Institute experts with support from other relevant agency are prepared to work with the National Assembly and all security sector stakeholders to achieve this objective.
On in the proposed legislative review, he advocated joint efforts between the National Assembly and all stakeholders in a transparent and open manner that puts national interest first, rather than individual benefits, adding that the process must also involve civil society organisations who are critical to the oversight of security agencies.
He said that an effective security sector can only be achieved through greater synergy between all security actors, both government and non-governmental organisations, hence collaborative efforts between core security agencies, which is meant to “enhance cooperation among agencies with shared responsibilities and overlapping jurisdictions.”
“In Nigeria, the call for greater inter-agency collaboration has heightened largely due to the rise in insecurity and violent conflicts and the challenge facing the various security agencies to work together to confront these emerging challenges. He who said that there have been well documented cases of rivalry for supremacy between and among themselves”.
He added that these have been blamed on several factors including broad and imprecise legal and institutional frameworks that inadvertently duplicate roles and duties or fail to specify ‘lead agency’ and ‘support agencies’ in joint operations, distrust between agencies, poor knowledge of roles by officers, limited capacity, personality differences and the struggle for operational funding at the expense of other agencies.
“Recurring interagency rivalry has the potential to undermine government efforts in having unity of command and purpose. It can also result in the dissipation of both human and material resources. As a result, not only is security itself compromised but the public is also confused as to which agency to look up to in times of security exigency.
“Despite the challenges we face, it is noteworthy to mention that security agencies in Nigeria have had a long and distinguished reputation in developing and successfully executing joint operations either at the local, sub-regional and continental levels”.
He said that there is need to undertake a holistic review of the level of our security laws, many of which are obsolete retaining an obvious colonial and dictatorial character.
Whereas they might have been effective in the past, they are clearly inadequate to deal with contemporary realities and challenges, adding that it is precisely what underpins the need for an urgent reform of the interagency architecture in Nigeria.
He said that the legislature has a fundamental role to play in this regard and need to be updated and reformed to increase their efficiency, adding that to achieve it must be undertaken through careful and thorough examination of our national security laws in the harsh light of current challenges including rising crime, violent extremism, insurgency and only more recently, growing clamour by citizens for greater accountability by our security agencies and respect for human rights.
“Piecemeal reform efforts are inadequate. It has now become necessary that we review and update all our security legislations to meet these evolving realities with a comprehensive review, it will go a long way in clarifying the roles of each agency in a clearer and more precise manner to avoid ambiguity and overlap; and address common interagency failures by resolving the root causes of those failures.
