By BEN OGUNTUASE
That the military, on exit in 1999 after several decades of misrule, planted some dangerous mines along our political path is no longer news. The problem that has stalled our way is that the political class has not had the courage to defuse these mines and restore sanity to our political landscape. Part of the presumptive eternal domination of our governance by the military was the creation of niche areas for themselves to enjoy. Here are some instances.
Justice Salami (rtd) hit the nail on the head recently when he said that the Chairman of EFCC does not need to be a police man. Since 1999, the impression has been that only a Police officer can head EFCC. From the corrupt agency will be selected an anti-corruption czar to lead the campaign. Except for occasional moments of good performance under Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, the agency has not lived up to expectation.
Another place of military niche is the National Youth Service Corps scheme. They have always appointed a soldier from the military’s education directorate to head the agency. There is no military component to NYSC. The orientation carried out over four weeks is just for exercises and socialization by the Corpers. It has no real military component. Why then should it always be headed by a soldier? At the inception of the scheme, we as students asked for two years service with one year fully devoted to full military training. Gowon rejected the idea as he rejected all the good things that would have set Nigeria on a better path and lay a different, more solid foundation. His compromise offered then was the camouflage orientation (original designed to last three months) with military supervision.
It should also be observed that the position of National Security Adviser has been set to a military default. That job exists to help the President survey the security landscape, provide early warning signals and advise the President on available options for response. The job is largely about intelligence gathering and expert analysis. It is not necessarily a job for the military. There are several non-military security experts even in the private sector like Dr. Ona Ekhomu who could perform brilliantly well in that position. But such people will not be appointed because the NSA job in Nigeria continues to be viewed from the coup prism. Successive leaders have viewed the NSAs as exiting to prevent coups and save the President. It is not about the security of Nigeria as a nation. This is part of why everything is collapsing so rapidly.
Moving on, we must all ensure that these military retirees, particularly those who fought in the civil war created by them through their internal conflicts must be kicked out of the power structure in Nigeria. We will never make any progress as long as they are in charge of our national life.