Two elephants clash

Reports have emerged of the Department of the State Security Service (DSS) preventing officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes…

Reports have emerged of the Department of the State Security Service (DSS) preventing officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from accessing their office in Ikoyi, Lagos. The Premium Times has cited an unnamed source that the spy agency blocked the whole building and placed an armoured personnel carrier at the front of the building. The paper claimed both agencies have been at loggerheads over the ownership of the building. The Punch reported a presidential order asking the DSS to “immediately” vacate the building, saying the “issues between the two important agencies of government would be resolved amicably.”

President Buhari could have been a more hands-on leader. He was very aloof on matters not directly affecting him personally, which led to competing fiefdoms that went at each other in pursuit of the personal goals of their leaders rather than concern themselves with the tasks that benefit the Nigerian people. His administration was not also helped by his age and health, the latter of which led to numerous foreign medical trips. As a result, during the Buhari Administration, it was common to see government departments and agencies squaring off against one another physically and in traditional and social media. The government is not a utopia. Interests and differences lead to rivalries which, if set in healthy policy competition, can help the country. The job of a president is to manage, amongst other things, these feuds in such a way that it does not boil over into the kind of embarrassing public spectacles that the Nigerian government is now notorious for. In 2019 there was the infamous case of soldiers preventing the detention of arrested gunrunner Hamisu Bala Wadume by the police, leading to a social media showdown between the two agencies. Other examples include the row between the Nigerian Postal Service and the Federal Inland Revenue Service over the right to collect stamp duties. Then came the war over unemployment figures between the Ministry of Labour and the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics. It is safe to assume that the latest brawl between the DSS and EFCC was related to an attempt to seize evidence on a case or to display superiority. The social media handle of the Nigerian DSS took to Twitter to disdainfully argue about its involvement in the messy situation in a way that was unbecoming of a government agency, especially one expected to show the highest level of subtlety. If Nigeria has enemies looking to harm the country, this scuffle could throw us in hot water. The government’s perpetual failure to manage these issues stems from their heavily duplicated functions, corruption and indiscipline. When taken together, they all fall under the overarching problem of leadership and its negligence of it. Like his predecessor, President Tinubu has medical issues. Like his predecessor, he is too old to ensure the smooth running of government operations, which leaves room for his handlers and aides to squabble over spoils that will almost always snowball into turf wars, as witnessed on Tuesday. Whatever an “amicable resolution” is, it may not mean much if the Head of Service or the Chief of Staff does not strongly read the Riot Act to government agencies or provide competing Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to iron out inter-institutional battles from the public’s view.