Leadership Failure at the Heart of Nigeria’s Insecurity — Bishop Hammawa

Leadership Failure at the Heart of Nigeria’s Insecurity — Bishop Hammawa

By Christiana Babayo.

In this thought-provoking interview, Most Rev. Bishop Charles Hammawa,  the Catholic Bishop of  Jalingo Diocese shares his deep concerns about Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, the weakening of democratic institutions, and the challenges posed by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. He calls for sincere leadership, stronger accountability, and renewed citizen responsibility, warning that the nation stands at a critical crossroads as the 2027 elections approach.

Please introduce yourself Sir?

My name is Bishop Charlse M Hammawa, the Catholic Bishop of Jalingo Diocese.

What’s your assessment of the security situation in the country and what do you think is a way out?

It’s rather unfortunate, I must say, and I tend to agree with many who hold the view that it is getting worse and worse in the country and there seems to be no honest and sincere political will to curb this. And of course, that can come from no other people but the leaders themselves, whether they are the politicians, the security agencies, or the courts. As you well know, executives are supposed to give the orders. We hear that very often, but is there a sincere political will to stop it?

We also know how much money is being pumped into security, but where that money is going we don’t know. Again, the question of low morale among security forces is there. Those who are out there doing the dirty work are not cared for, so of course they won’t give their best. And if they are not equipped, then you’re sending them on a suicide mission. So I think the summary of it all is that I blame the ruling class at all categories for not taking this seriously. What we seem to hear from them is just rhetoric, like the most recent one in Jos. I wonder if we have a leader with a human face.

It goes all along the line, down to the sub-regional and state levels. It is sad. They are protected; the rest of us are not. And when a few cry out and protest, they are being classified as this and that, tried and arrested.

For me, the government needs to do more than what it is saying and doing for this to end. I have always done a little arithmetic in my head. Looking back at Boko Haram, even if there are five thousand Boko Haram members causing havoc, what is that compared to the security forces of this country that we cannot crush them? But people played politics with it. “Oh, I want to get the support of the North, so I have to be careful with this,” and that’s how the issue gradually grew. Now another person is there and is also being careful to curry favour. It is very discouraging, honestly.

If not for love of country and lack of means, many would have left this country because you’re not sure of your movement every time.

And not all can afford security for themselves; it is very expensive. But for some of us, even if we can afford it, we can’t do that for some moral reasons. If our members are not safe, why are we getting security for ourselves? Long and short of the story is that there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

There are other ramifications that people are talking and writing about, even from forensic experts, but it again goes back to the leaders. They benefit from this. Some people are supported to do this havoc, clear the ground, displace people, and the next thing you are seeing is big international business going on, and Nigeria is not enjoying the royalties. The villagers who are displaced are also not enjoying the royalties. Business is going on at the highest level and we talk about importing and exporting these mineral resources that have been harvested, especially from the Middle Belt and other areas. Some people are benefitting from it and that’s why they are not ready to stop it. It is unfortunate, it is bad and terrible.

Every now and then the issue of state policing comes to the fore. Given the rate of insecurity, what’s your take on state policing?

I am for it but with a provision. If we copy so much from outside the world where they have police at the federal, regional and local government levels, why can’t we do it? The argument for me is that the federal government alone cannot manage this. But if you involve the state or regional governments, you will be employing many people and there are many teeming youths out there who need employment.

If you’re going through the normal process, you have to pay through your nose. But if we have the state police system, the manpower needed to adequately address this insecurity will be there. So I go for it, but the only provision is that as it is, the police at the federal level are being dictated what to do. So that has to be taken care of by provision of the law. But I think we should decentralise the police; it will help us a lot.

The country is sliding into a one-party system. What will be the implications of this?

Of course I am concerned. For crying out loud, we are talking about democracy and democracy doesn’t work in a one-party state. It is like any dictatorship, just that these ones are not in uniforms and carrying guns. This is one thing that makes me weep for our country Nigeria, and for me to be honest, I am very annoyed.

Is the ruling party using whatever means to coerce people to join? And those joining, where is their conscience? It has become about what pleases them, not what benefits those who elected them. I hear in the constitution that if you are elected under one party and you decamp, you are supposed to leave, but how is that even enforced? If that provision is there, it means that most of our governors should be leaving office, but that is not the case. It is very unfortunate. We are no longer running a democracy. We must not go into dictatorship.

For goodness’ sake, the pride of Africa going into times like this is a sad development for our country. When people should be copying from us. No place is as perfect as it should be. We have countries like South Africa who gained their freedom from apartheid. Well, they have their problems, but at least there is some form of democracy there more than here. It is unfortunate that the laws that should take care of these are silent and it is happening more and more.

2027 is around the corner. Do you think we can have credible elections?

I would like to be proved wrong but we will probably have the worst elections. The signs are there. Even at the other party levels, there are cries from every angle. There’s selection going on. Some of the primaries are coming and we will watch and see. But the indications are there. There are chosen candidates. The signs are there.

We may go through the exercise but it is not the real exercise. From the primary levels you will see the same thing happening, not to talk of the general elections. As I said, it will probably be the worst, but I would like to be proven wrong. And if I am proven wrong, I will go out publicly to confess.

In an era of artificial intelligence brought by technological advancement, how do you view the threat AI is posing?

We should welcome every development on all fronts if it will enhance lives and make lives better and solve our problems, especially in the area of insecurity. If that will help, why not? But again, as with any development, if you are not careful, it bounces back.

We are crying about population boom and unemployment in Nigeria. The universities are over a hundred in Nigeria and we graduate thousands every year. Where do they work if everything is taken over by AI? So you look at that aspect too; it’s a problem while it is a welcome development.

But if it will help in intelligence gathering for security, it is a good development. But the question I ask is that even as we are, there is still a lot of intelligence. What is the government doing with it? Most of the cases we see, security operatives arrive after the damage is done and willy-nilly they must have been told about it.

Somebody tells me that in our state we have drones all over, especially at the flashpoints, and yet we are not seeing improvement in the security situation. So what are we doing with the intelligence gathered? If AI will provide more accurate and actionable intelligence, then that is fine. But it needs human will and determination to make good use of that information to solve this problem.

It’s just like money. Nobody says money is bad, but if you allow it to get into your head, that is when it becomes evil, as the scripture tells us that money is the root of all evil. In the same way, AI can be good, but how it is used is what really matters.

For instance, it is dangerous when we rely entirely on AI to do our thinking for us and we are already getting there. Most students are relying entirely on AI for their research work. And so they end up with work that they cannot actually take ownership of. It is very dangerous. To some extent you can say it is encouraging laziness.

Another danger with it is misinformation. You can see a video of a prominent figure making a speech only to realise that it is AI. So there are a lot of materials out there that seem completely believable but they are not true, and it is very difficult to tell the difference.