NYUMBA KUMI which means “ten houses” in Swahili, is a community based Security system in Kenya that had won international attention. It has transformed the security initiation in many Kenya communities into a referral point internationally.
Kenyan government launched this system in 2013 to tackle the rising crime rates.
All it entails are;
*Grouping residents of each community into ten households
*Each of these groups is headed by a leader who coordinates Security efforts and reports to the local authority.
*Each group shares information about suspicious activities of strangers in their midst or who potents a security risk.
*Members take turns keeping watch over their unit groups
*They collaborate with local authorities in intelligence sharing.
These system, has helped Kenya in, reduction in crime rate, has increased unity within the various communities and had created a trust, with the authorities.
Only recently, Mr oluwatosin Ajayi the Director General of Nigeria’s DSS, while delivering a keynote address at the Alumnus inaugural lecture of the institute for security studies in Abuja, spoke extensively on the need to equip the various communities as the first responders to security breaches across the country. He sited the examples of Azare and Tafawa Balewa local governments in Bauchi state as communities he had experienced first hand, the advantage of communities forming a cohesive Security collaboration with local authorities that had not only worked, but had equally been established as communities where terrorism and Banditry don’t strive.
Again, we have a system in the united state of America where true federalism is practice. Each county ( local government) have their own sheriffs. A Sherrill will out of the blues turn up at the front door of any strange or visitor to each county to verify such person and interrogate such person for security records. In other words, the record of everyone in each county is known and kept.
A resemblance of all the above is practice too in Nigeria over the years, like the Yandab’ba in the north, the vigilantes/ hunters in the south which are made up of each community members keeping watch over the town.
One can not run away from the attaining risk of adoption of the system wholly without moderation, due to political interference where politician can convert them to political thugs. However, proper government reformation can help professionalize such Security collaboration as it’s done with the NYUMBA KUMI in Kenya, and the Azare , Tafawa Balewa models.
Local hunters that equally knows the length and width of each communities can be used and trained as we presently have with the various joint security taskforce in the fight against terrorism in the north.
No doubt as suggested at the inaugural lecture, each communities across the country needs to be equipped,trained, and legalize to act as the first responders at the face of Security breaches across the country due primarily because of insufficient Security manpower to man each red flags location across the country, and due primarily to the equally shortages of equipment.
The propriety or otherwise of the legalisation of the right of citizens to carry control arms should be visited.
No doubt, President Tinubu,has a unique gift for gathering best and most intelligent brains to work with him, these,we can see with the arrays of Security chiefs he has at the helms of affairs all working under the coordination of General Christopher Musa Gwabin, the Chief of Defense Staff who has shown himself capable of his duties.
Nigerians will definitely get it right with time.
– Jesse Abayomi Oloke writes from Lokoja, Kogi State.
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