Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria, KACRAN, has rejected the idea by some presidential candidates to recruit one million security operatives as a way of addressing the prevailing security challenges in the country.
The position of the Association was made known in a statement issued by its National President, Hon. Khalil Mohammed Bello, and made available to DAILY POST in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.
He said KACRAN finds it necessary to react to the presidential candidates’ so-called plan when they featured on BBC Hausa’s flagship program, ‘RA’AYI RIGA’ which was aired last Friday, arguing that the move cannot solve the nation’s security problem; instead it would exacerbate the security situation.
Bello opined that considering the current economic realities, the nation can only afford to recruit around 50,000 to 70,000 personnel and adequately train and arm them with sophisticated weapons to meet contemporary challenges.
“Our major concern is if the government employs hundreds of thousands or one million personnel into the military, they will not be adequately trained or given enough superior weapons.
“And where are we going to get money to pay their salaries, especially now that government often resorts to borrowing money to pay salary?” he querried.
He expressed the fear that if the new recruits for instance are not being paid sufficiently, that alone can amount to mutiny as well as other issues that fuel insecurity in the country.
“It should not be forgotten that even our current military personnel on many occasions have complained bitterly for not being catered for, or supplied with enough sophisticated weapons to fight their enemies”, he said.
According to him modern warfare does not require large number of personnel, but only requires advanced weapons.
“KACRAN is of the opinion that, massive employment of military personnel will create a situation whereby bandits and other separatists will be fighting untrained military personnel which be highly embarrassing and detrimental to national security”, Bello added.
For Nigeria to get it right on security, KACRAN’S National President advised the candidates to identifying the reason why people are taking up arms against nation so as to engage them in dialogue.
Other ways to curb insecurity in the nation according to Hon. Khalil Mohammed Bello include: creating millions of job opportunities for youth; training and retraining of existing personal as well as timely payment of their salaries and allowances.
“KACRAN believes that, as the creation of state police will never solve the problem of security in the states; instead, it will bring more avoidable burden to the government, likewise the unnecessary employment of hundreds of thousands or one million additional military personnel would be more harmful than helpful to our highly pitiable security system”, he said.
