NATIONAL SECURITY: Why Nigeria Must Regulate the Proliferation of Private Security Establishments Before the Shadows Overrun the State
By Festus Fifen In the contemporary Nigerian landscape, the sound of sirens and the sight of khaki-clad men wielding batons—or increasingly, assault rifles—have become as ubiquit ous as the traffic in Lagos or the kulikuli seller in Kano. From the gated communities of Lekki, Maitama, Guzape , Osubi, Effurun to the remote farming outposts of the Middle Belt,the Niger Delta and the south eastern part of Nigeria, a metamorphosis is occurring. " The Vacuum of Order". Driven by an endemic sense of vulnerability and the perceived inability of the state to fulfill its primary social contract, the protection of lives and property, Nigeria is witnessing an unprecedented explosion in private security establishments and Quasi security arrangements that are daily looking more like an unofficially recognized militia group aimed at protecting lifes and properties. While the instinctive reaction might be to applaud the "filling of the gap," a deeper philosophical and tactical a...
