Nig 2nd in Africa, fifth worldwide in organised crime – Gen Buratai

… first among West African countries

…as critical stakeholders insist that combining non-kinetic and kinetic methods could help checkmate organised crime

Ex-Chief of Army Staff, COAS, General Tukur Buratai, Retd has said Nigeria is rated number two in Africa and maintains fifth position in the world in organised crime.

Giving a further breakdown he said Nigeria also ranked second among 54 countries in Africa and first among 15 countries in West Africa.

While quoting the Global Organised Crime Index, Buratai, who spoke during a one-day international conference on organised crime organised by Igbinedion University Okada IUO, Buratai Centre for Contemporary Security Affairs in Abuja also disclosed that other affected countries included Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

He said, “Nigeria has a criminality score of 7.15 out of 1 to 10 and it is ranked 5th out of 193 countries. It is 2nd of 54 countries in Africa and 1st of 15 countries in West Africa according to the Global Organised Crime Index.

“As the index results show, the countries with the highest criminality levels are those experiencing conflict or fragility. The Democratic Republic of Congo was identified as the country most affected by organised crime, followed by Colombia, Myanmar, Mexico and Nigeria.

“Other high-scoring countries include Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, where conflict countries have decimated the formal economies, led to mass displacement and an influx of weapons.”

Other critical stakeholders also agreed that to effectively checkmate organised crime in Nigeria there’s need to quickly adopt both the kinetic and non kinetic approach to achieve success.

The international confab which was attended by ex-COAS, Lt Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau, Retd, another ex-COAS, Gen TY Buratai, all serving Service Chiefs, NSA former military top brass, the diplomatic corps and other critical stakeholders.

The Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Major General TA Lagbaja who was represented clearly stated in his goodwill message that the kinetic approach alone can no longer combat organised crime as the collaboration of community leaders, community dwellers and traditional institutions are needed to combat it and this part is the non kinetic approach.

He explained that “organised crime is like a wild fire and what can easily cage it is the non kinetic approach using community leaders, community dwellers, intelligence tools to gather credible information on how to checkmate organised crime.

“Kinetic approach is just 20percent while non kinetic is 80percent and the implication here is that you need people to allow the non kinetic approach to succeed.

“To this end, you need community leaders, people in the axis to achieve results particularly in the Niger Delta you cannot stop crude oil siphoning without the people assisting you.

In his brief submission, IUO Pro Chancellor, Professor Sheikh Ahmad Abdullahi said” I expect this conference to provide a blueprint to help curb organised crime in Nigeria and by extension Africa and worldwide.

“Before now the rate of crime was recorded arithmetically but now it is in geometric form so we need to think of the kinetic theory to use in combating organised crime.

“To checkmate the emerging threat we need to be ready to find ways and means to dislodge the threat be it organised or otherwise.

Former COAS and ex-minister of Interior, Lt Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau in his goodwill and also chaired the conference went down memory lane to the days 419, Boko Haram, the Italian Mafia and the history of organised crime.

The Keynote speaker, Chairman, National Police Commission, NPC and ex-IGP, Dr Solomon Arase who was represented by Prof Omorege Edobar gave a vivid picture of how organised crime started in Nigeria and on how to effectively combat it.

Arase in his presentation said, 419 of the early 1990s, Money Laundering,Ponzi Schemes are products of induced organised crime bearing semblance of Boko Haram in 2007-2009 which spread across North East, the Niger Delta militancy and the banditry in the North West.