Security experts and academics have cautioned the Federal Government against reintegrating terrorists without proper rehabilitation, lamenting that the practice is posing a danger to the country’s security architecture.
They also charged the government on security sector reform to ensure the creation of security forces that guarantee the protection of the ordinary person and national interest.
Speaking at the opening session of the 46th annual conference of the Nigerian Society of International Law, themed: ‘State Sovereignty & Security in a Challenging Era: Interrogating the Efficiency of International Law,’ the National Coordinator for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria, DIG Johnson Kokumo, said that it was becoming worrisome to see that terrorists, who did not undergo enough rehabilitative effort were integrated into the society.
This, he noted, posed serious challenges to the country’s commitment to addressing its insecurity crisis. He also called for a stronger legal framework to tackle the proliferation of light arms and weapons, noting that the 1959 Firearms Act must be reviewed to ensure efficient control of illicit arms in Nigeria.
Corroborating his view, the professor of International Law at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Ademola Popoola, who delivered the keynote address, attributed Nigeria’s persistent security challenges to poor governance structures and weak intelligence coordination.
He said: “Security forces that are untrained, ill-equipped, mismanaged and irregularly paid are more often part of the problem. They are perceived as a major source of conflict and insecurity.
“Sometimes poorly paid, they have turned their weapons on the people they were supposed to defend and protect. Presidents and other politicians have used the police and even their armies to put down popular protests and eliminate rivals. And frequently, military commanders have staged coups to take the reins of power themselves.”
Solicitor General of Lagos State and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Hameed Oyenuga, who represented Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, lamented that Nigeria’s sovereignty is tested daily through economic pressures, cyber threats, cross-border insecurity and global political influences. He said that for sovereignty to remain meaningful, it must be strengthened from within.
The President of the society, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, expressed the need to redefine the concept of sovereignty, arguing that it had been bombarded in the light of the different threats that are currently prevailing on the global stage.
Speaking on the intersection of international law and sovereignty, she noted that while international law represents humanity’s collective attempt to bring order to chaos, there is a need for cooperation between justice and sovereignty in ways that truly serve the interests of nations and people.
