A former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Martin Luther Agwai, has called for adequate funding of the Nigerian Army to enable it to tackle the problem of insecurity in the country.
He made the call on Thursday in Calabar at a Military Law Forum with the theme: “Internal Security Operations: Prospects and Challenges’’, organised by Defence Headquarters, Abuja.
Agwai, who was the guest speaker at the forum, said that if the army was well funded, it would assist it in the discharge of its constitutional duties to protect the nation.
He said that the army was established to protect the nation and its territorial boundaries and ward off foreign interference.
“I must commend the Nigerian Army for protecting the country and its peacekeeping mission to African countries,’’ he said.
He said that the lack of logistics and training were some of the challenges militating against the nation’s internal security.
Agwai urged the army to imbibe the culture of civil-military relationship to enable its personnelto relate well with the civil populace.
In order to address the problem of youth unemployment in the country, Agwai called for the establishment of skills acquisition centres in the country where the youths could acquire relevant skills.
In his remark, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence and Army, Sen. George Sekibo, said that the military law forum was organised to discuss issues of security in the country and the way forward.
He said that timely release of information by the public to the security agencies would help to prevent the activities of insurgents.
He urged the public to always report suspicious movements around them, adding that security agencies were on the alert to respond to distress call.
The Director-General, Nigeria Institute of Advance Legal Studies, Prof. Epiphany Azinge, said that the army needed orientation on how to relate with the public.
He said that the army also needed orientation and education to assist them in intelligence gathering.
A senior Advocate of Nigeria and Human Rights Activist, Mr Femi Falana, said that the army needed experts in intelligence information gathering.
He called for effective leadership in the country, adding that leadership was a trust from the electorate to their leaders.
“Nigeria is the only country in the world where money is being paid to criminals as ransom for kidnapping,’’ he said, and stressed the need for intelligence gathering to enable the army deal with kidnapping.