Okechukwu

When Nnamdi Kanu founded Eastern Security Network, it was received with heavy news coverage. Underneath this, two voices emerged: The first was that of the common Igbo man who sought a response from a form of authority on the issue of insecurity mostly perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen in Igboland. The second was the voice of the cautious Igboman – could the Nigerian security forces that have shown dire animosity for anything IPOB and used extra force in dealing with security coughs in the region use ESN as an excuse to militarize the Southeast and create a Boko Haram situation?

With the passage of time, the permutations and worries have remained in varying degrees of passion and intellect. Today, here, we take a more journalistic look at the issue of Eastern Security Network with the belief (more of hope) that stronger writers would take care of the predictive aspect. And with this, we may have an understanding of what the future (and the turbulent present) holds.

Eastern Security Network: Facts you need to know

1. The organization is funded with money from abroad

Nnamdi Kanu in his broadcasts usually said his army is being funded by Biafrans from the US, Europe, and other parts of the globe. More than just saying this, Nnamdi Kanu has held many virtual fundraising events to boost the resources for the upkeep of the boys.

Every year, according to Africacheck.org, Nigerians abroad send 25 billion dollars home. There are a lot of Igbos abroad and if a fraction of them send a fraction of what they send to family to the ESN, there would be billions of naira under ESN disposal.

2. Some of its members are drawn from the Nigerian military

ESN is not made up of street urchins and touts and the jobless in the East. Maybe there are touts and urchins and the jobless among their ranks but that is not the bulk of the forces. According to Nnamdi Kanu which seems to be collaborated by outside sources, their forces come from professional fighters including from the Nigerian Army.

Sahara Reporters quoted an insider who said thus:

“The Kanu ESN boys are not a bunch of rookies and untrained fellows brandishing guns. I personally know five guys from my hometown in Anambra State who left the Nigerian Army to join the ESN. Two of them were formerly serving in Operation Lafiya Dole, Borno State before they quit.”

Their sentiments are lucid: ESN reportedly has better welfare packages for its officers than the Nigerian military. Between July 2020 and January 2021, hundreds of soldiers resigned from the military. We do not have the figures of how many of them are in the ESN but feelers from the group suggested that a number of them are now under the employment of ESN.

3. ESN has repeatedly clashed with the military

Unlike the Amotekum, the Yoruba inspiration for ESN, the Eastern Security Network has continually fended off attacks from Nigerian security forces. It is not difficult to tell why – ESN was founded by a federal fugitive under the organization that FG considers a terrorist group.

Here is what ESN did to a Fulani settlement in Abia State

The security outfit has clashed with the Nigerian military in Orlu in January which even saw the deployment of fighter jets by Buhari’s forces.

4. Eastern Security Network is not just for Igboland

While the media would paint it as just about Igboland and many Igbos may see it so, the organization of Eastern Security Network is set to guard against the whole former Eastern Nigerian region and Igbo-speaking parts of the former Mid-Western Region. With this, ESN is in all 5 Southeast States and all Southsouth states with the exception of Edo State.

This is what Nnamdi Kanu claims but it is hard to tell how many of their operatives are present in non-Igbo states of the East such as Cross River and Bayelsa. States. The fact that the activities of Fulani herdsmen are lowest in the Southsouth where the topography and oil richness make the atmosphere unconducive for cattle, there are yet to be clashes for which ESN can show their hand.

5. The security outfit has other responsibilities besides Fulani herdsmen

In December 2020, Nnamdi Kanu weighed in on the incessant armed robbery attacks that POS operatives faced in the Southeast, especially in Aba, Abia State. He told POS operatives in the whole of the region to go about their trades without fear as he was on top of the situation.

There haven’t been reports of attacks on IPOB after that and this can be attributed to so many factors, but since Nnamdi Kanu had vowed to use ESN to crack down on armed robbers who terrorize POS operatives, he is within his rights to claim the glory.

6. There are intercommunity rivals in the courses of the ESN

Every community in the Southeast has its town-wide vigilante group recognized by the police and the state governments who sometimes donate equipment to them. These vigilantes cannot be said to be the rivals of IPOB’s Eastern Security Network because they have been present all through the challenges of Fulani herdsmen whom they are unable to prevent from carrying out atrocities on eastern soil.

Late last year, Enugu State government founded the Forest Guards, a paramilitary group to keep the forests of Enugu State safe from marauders. These men, if active, should have come across ESN operatives in Enugu forests. In March, the commercial centre of the east, Onitsha, created what can be rivals to ESN when the Obi constituted Onitsha Ado Security Network.

In a show of worry, Nnamdi Kanu instantly tweeted a claim that Onitsha Ado Security is funded by the Fulani oligarchy in order to make troubles for the ESN. He added that if the traditional government in Onitsha doesn’t back down it would end in tears for the monarch “and his local Miyetti Allah” group.

7. The fight between ESN and the Nigerian forces is not just physical

In war, one weapon readily used but rarely noticed is propaganda and there is no shortage of it between IPOB and the government in the centre. The government and the media and social media handles close to it have accused ESN of atrocities which ESN have denied carrying out. In all their clashes, IPOB has claimed victory and said that Nigerian forces ran for their lives leaving their equipment behind.

The government on their part have said they are only after dislodging ESN operatives and killing them a last resort. In March 2021 they claim to have killed 16 ESN operatives in Abia State. IPOB denied this saying that they only killed innocent Igbo people who have nothing to do with ESN.

Most times, it is hard to tell who to believe between the two. Most times, it is usually about believing the group where your sympathies lie.

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The Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, known as just IPPIS is one of the most popular terms to come out of everything that has to do with policy-making, Buhari’s anti-corruption drive, the civil service, and ASUU Strike. Perhaps, it is the latter’s involvement that elevated it to the top of the national discourse.

But what is IPPIS and why does it matter?

This is the goal of this post, to find all there is to be known about IPPIS and we are not going to do it the hard way, we would see ourselves as a teacher in a classroom facing primary 5 pupils, that simple. But when it gets hard, at any stage of your explication, know that we are aware of geniuses in elementary level with the mind of university undergraduates.

What is IPPIS?

IPPIS can be defined as a system of payment, like a register but online, that carries the names of everyone that works for the federal government and the amount to be paid them in order to eliminate loopholes.

These loopholes include paying ghost workers (i.e people who do not work for an organization but have their names in the payroll and get paid every month to the benefit of a corrupt executive in the organization), paying someone twice by mistake or by corrupt design, paying people who have two or more federal jobs at the same time which is illegal and selfish.

IPPIS was developed in 2007 under the office of the Accountant-General of the Federal but as with many Nigerian laws implementation was the problem for more than a decade.

Merits of IPPIS

The merits of IPPIS are plentiful but we can sum them into two broad ones.

1. It saves the government money by eliminating overpayments, payments to unexisting workers, and people with multiple jobs.

2. IPPIS makes it easy for the government to collect taxes and levies due to them automatically rather than having to go through the hassles of collecting these levies manually.

Considering how much the Nigerian economy needs support, it is great to have a system that saves money and helps make money for the commonwealth.

Why ASUU is against the system?

In March 2020, ASUU embarked on strike action, citing many grievances as the reason. These grievances may be true but the key point behind their downing of tools can be summed in five letters – IPPIS. The strike went on till December 2020, breaking the 20-year record held by the 2013 strike that went from June to December.

The pain of the strike is glossed by the coronavirus pandemic that kept schools closed for six months. Without the pandemic, ASUU claims the strike may not have lasted that long. They may be right but we can never say for sure. What we could say with 100% certainty is that ASUU is against the IPPIS portal.

Now, why is that so?

According to ASUU chairman, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, IPPIS, firstly, has no backing by the law establishing the university system in the country.

“The introduction of IPPIS is not backed by law,” he pointed out. “The Union’s position is that there are extant legal provisions and negotiated agreements arising from the nature and peculiarities of Nigerian universities, which make IPPIS unnecessary and inapplicable to the universities.”

Secondly, ASUU is arguing that the IPPIS does not fully cover all the staff lists of the university setup. According to their chairman, “There are certain peculiarities which IPPIS does not cater for in the university system. One of these is sabbatical staff, adjunct lecturers, contract staff, and other academic allowances for working in more than one institution.”

Thirdly, ASUU claims that the IPPIS portal is not strong enough to cater to the entirety of university lecturers in Nigeria. It claims that technological hitches have left the lecturers who have been paid with the system facing a lot of errors so much that senior lecturers have complained about being paid the salaries of a far junior lecturer.

During the strike, check government stand on IPPIS

Fourthly, ASUU has tried the payment system and are worried that its extortive nature has made it impossible for them to continue on it. On this, their chairman said thus: “When ASUU was forced to get paid through IPPIS, salaries were cut because of malicious deductions most of which were not consented to. A professor who’d receive 460,000 naira through normal payment means hardly gets 416,000 naira now due to these deductions that can’t be explained.”

In essence, ASUU is saying that the corruption and inefficiencies that IPPIS is supposed to get rid of have found their way into the system and this time, it is deliberate, perpetrated by people behind the system to steal, to frustrate, and to punish ASUU members.

The explanation from the government that these deductions are taken to cover their housing, health insurance, and tax does not seem to move ASUU.

If you must have us in a portal, ASUU insists to FG, then adopt the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS). FG would not budge on IPPIS which has been adopted by the police, paramilitary agencies, departments, and ministries. Why should universities be on a different platform?

ASUU called off their nine-month strike in December 2020, just before Christmas, claiming that FG has waivered IPPIS for them. FG claims that this is not true, saying that the system was only paused in order to think up a more lasting system-solution for the lecturers.

We haven’t heard the last of ASUU and IPPIS.

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