By Ohio-Michael Elakhe
“If anything can happen, it probably will” – Murphy’s Law
The U.S. Army War College’s proposition of the post-Cold War era, resulted in a study titled The VUCA age. The acronym stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. Going by the study, it’s easy to deduce, when put alongside veritable evidence in everyday life that World War III has hypothetically commenced. But the onslaught is against civil society’s survival and the security of the environment in which we co-exist.
The differences between this and conventional wars is that, this conflict is not the typical military-to-military entanglement. Secondly, its scale transcends the confines of geographical boundaries and demographics. Everyone can be overcome by the VUCA nature of insecurity. Thirdly, this bombardment isn’t subject to any protocols guiding the prosecution of wars. It’s incontrovertible that we’re fighting for our right to exist without recourse to fear and paranoia.
In Nigeria, the terror war is as much prosecuted by internally originated restive militia, armed robbers with high-powered assault rifles, bandits, politically motivated and also ritual killers, etc, as it is by externally originated cross-border insurgents and killer herders, etc. But because its insidiousness isn’t prosecuted by everyday terms, we don’t realize it’s going on around us, so we continue in our laissez-faire, cavalier courses till one day, calamity hits us in the face.
Judging by the alarming and incremental degrees to which these crimes, insecurity and violence are escalating, it’s evident that if the carnage must be stopped, the architecture which underlies security, needs urgent review to outmatch present and future distress, which are crippling citizenry and the economy everywhere, including Nigeria.
In his book, ‘The World Is Flat’, Thomas Friedman stated; “We are in a new world, using old tools”. Globally, policing’s charter is primarily about responding to a report lodged ‘after’ an attack. This means, unless in per-chance, the police are on hand before or when a citizen is attacked, they’ll only respond in an after-the-act investigatory role, and by the time they arrive; which could be anything from hours after, till never, the attackers could have put the victim through an experience which will be etched in their memory and may traumatize their lives forever; assuming of course their life is spared to recount the ordeal: This form of response is built on a faulty template which is not designed to protect; in the classical sense, because the approach is purely reactive, instead of a proactive inclination, if the objective is protection, and the daily reports which have swamped every media channel for the last two decades, tells these truths disheartening truth eloquently.
That’s why dignitaries have security details attached to them, to preempt and forestall the possibilities of falling victims, so if policing is about security, then citizens should likewise have them around 24/7, because it would thus be the first-line of an adequate and reliable security measure in ensuring citizens don’t fall victim in the first place. But a one man – one police detail ideal is not a practical or realistic expectation. Besides, the security forces are already overwhelmed: Even policemen have become targets and can barely protect themselves against the onslaught they sometimes face, so, it is fool-hardy to depend solely on them for protection.
But despite the level of insecurity, with critical thinking, adequate safety is possible, so we need to look to new and pragmatic approaches, to help us craft realistic new operational tools for strategic civil-defense initiatives. In his Democracy Day broadcast to the nation on June 12, 2021, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, said; “… I have through my tenure, provided the security agencies with all they require, relative to available resources, and will be providing more, as the dynamics unfold”.
Those dynamics of insecurity that confront Nigerians requires not just the infusion of cash for arms, but that government should put on its thinking cap and avail itself with new tools of intelligence, because the successes which these dissidents record in their assault on the citizenry, show their thinking is obviously several steps ahead of our security apparatus. So, Nigeria’s security framework needs to be reconstructed, to subordinate the dynamic evolution of crime, criminality and the present realities of the VUCA world: This is a clarion call to leadership.
One practical approach is putting the initiative of security undertaking in the hands of the citizenry, by integrating civil self-defense as a proactive apparatus in the security machinery, because the responsibility of ensuring survival, is every mans. In that vein, civil self-defense needs to be addressed as a logical and realistic option, with utmost consideration and emphasis on proactive measures of ensuring safety, rather than letting the assailant get the privilege of escape.
I advise that a security measure which doesn’t put an assailant or predators life at risk, or does not send a clear message that they should fear for their death, is totally inadequate. When nations carry out military parades; roll out tanks, ships, fighter planes and it artillery, they’re sending clear and concise messages to aggressor nations that they have the might and capacity to defend their territory. This ideology coupled with a ‘war-front’ mindset, is what civil self-defense requires as its baseline.
If citizens adopt these, ditch the ultimate crippler; fear of death, resolve not to be the helpless victims, but emerge from any attack alive, then there will be the necessary paradigm shift in their outlook, preparedness and response to insecurity. So, to turn the table and ensure survival, criminals MUST, as of necessity, arrive at the point where they fear for their own life. Anything short of that is them taking control of their victims future, and they can turn it in whichever direction their whim pushes them. That’s a predicament in Nigeria at the moment.
A parting word: To surmount the VUCA challenges intensifying around us, we must view each day and life through the eyes of the future, not from the experiences of yesterday. OBSERVE! OBSERVE!! OBSERVE!!! Always use your eyes and instincts, because they are some of the best safety indicators, then adapt to the future; be cautious, but drastic and decisive in executing your self-defense, or you may be exterminated.
“Ohio-Michael, is a Lagos-based security consultant, speaker and physical trainer. He can be reached via 07026882900- WhatsApp, 09054655570- SMS only. E-Mail: acsds.agn@gmail.com