News

‘Reorganise Nigeria’s Security Architecture To End Terrorism’

Published

2 years ago

October 24, 2022

Security experts in the North-East have advocated proactive measures to reorganise national security architecture to tackle terrorism and other criminal activities in the country.
They also called for closer collaboration between security agencies and communities to effectively address security challenges in the country.
The experts, who spoke in Bauchi, Gombe, Maiduguri and Yola, said such collaborative effort would enhance security network in the country.
A Bauchi-based security expert, Mr Abdullahi Yelwa, said that Nigerians were largely responsible for the insecurity due to lackadaisical attitude to security issues in the society.
He said: “everyone is guilty of security situation in Nigeria”.
The expert, however, blamed the leaders for their inability to demonstrate great political commitment towards providing lasting solutions to the problems.
Yelwa, a lecturer with the Department of Crime Management and Control (CMC), Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi, said it was imperative to prioritise security ahead of the 2023 general election.
According to him, the primary essence of government is to ensure security of lives and property of the people, noting that this has not been significantly achieved over the years.
“This is having a symbolic effect. When you talk of physical insecurity in terms of kidnapping for ransom, cattle rustling, banditry and others, you will also discover that people have been sent packing from their farms.
“Invariably, this would multiply what we call food insecurity because people cannot eat and if people can’t eat, they will be hungry.
“So, if people can’t sleep because they are hungry and certainly, the rich will not sleep because the poor are awake,” he said.
He noted that some states were relatively better than the others in terms of security, adding that, “in the North-East generally, you can appreciate God Almighty for what we have in Bauchi State”.
The expert said that all hands must be on the deck for a peaceful and crime free society.
He added that the masses have a responsibility to give credible intelligence, and the security agencies should use the information to resolve security problems.
“The challenge we have is that some security agents are complicit in these security issues.
“We have cases of security personnel involved in killing innocent people. So, if a security personnel would be involved in such obnoxious acts, what about others.
“We need to rework and reorganise the security architecture in such a way that it will be workable.
“We must ensure that people are employed, adequately trained and modern equipment deployed to handle security situation,” he said.
Corroborating Yelwa’s views, a public analyst, Mr Inuwa Abubakar, stressed the need for deployment of modern equipment to rejig security apparatus in the country.
“Security agencies are operating in an analogue dimension and the criminals are changing their tactics. It is important we go all out digital,” he said.
Abubakar further said it was imperative for Nigerians to understand the mandate of all security agencies, adding that their roles must be clearly defined and adhered to.
“Each and every organisation wants to convince the public that it is the most important, reliable and hardworking.
“And even those who are supposed to come at a very rare invitation such as the military, now partake in internal security operations.
“The civil defence too wants to carry arms even though they are not meant to do so, and everyone wants to poke nose into the police work because it is inadequate, ill equipped and ill trained,” he said.
Similarly; the Gombe Commissioner for Ethical Orientation and Internal Security, Adamu Dishi, attributed the relative in the state to effective synergy between the government and security agencies.
He said the feat is achieved through implementation of sound programmes and policies aimed at providing enabling working environment to security agencies in the state.
The commissioner said inter-agency rivalry was a major challenge threatening to internal security, adding that, ‘In Gombe, we do not have such problem.
‘’Gombe is situated at the centre of the North-East, and on daily basis we record influx of people from neighbouring states.
‘’Such working collaboration is imperative towards improving the security and ensuring that Gombe remained a safe haven for all,” he said.
The commissioner said the government successfully tackled communal clashes which was the only security problem, especially in southern part of the state.
“Throughout 2022, there was no communal clash in the state.
“The success recorded in tackling the issue may not be unconnected with the collaborative effort between the government, security agencies and relevant stakeholders in sensitising the parties involved,” he said.
Also; Special Assistant to Governor Inuwa Yahaya on Security Matters and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Alhaji Yusuf Danbayo, said the state governor prioritised support to security agencies which translated to relative peace in the state.
He said, “the governor has been providing support to security agencies and treated credible intelligence seriously.
“The security agencies are succeeding in the fight against crimes in view of the synergy between all the stakeholders”.
In the same vein, the Police Public Relations Officer in Adamawa State, SP Suleiman Nguroje, said the command had intensified surveillance and patrol to protect lives and property in the state.
“The Police Command and other security agencies designed security rink strategies, to provide enabling environment for all political parties to move around without any challenges.
“By doing so the command engaged organising secretaries of political parties to give us time tables of their campaigns to help the Command provide security everywhere,” he said.
Nguroje further reiterated the command’s commitment to fight crimes, protect lives and property in the state.
Moreso; the Police Commissioner in Borno, Abdu Umar said the command had intensified patrols and raids against criminal hideouts to sustain the gains achieved in the fight against insurgency in the state.
He said that about 1,800 constabulary had been deployed to enhance community policing across the 27 LGAs of the state.
He said the role of constabulary would assist in crime detection and prevention, conflict resolution, intelligence gathering and dissemination to maintain law and order.
“The command deployed 10 policemen across the 27 LGAs, to augment sister security agencies in combating terrorism and crimes,” he said.
For his part, a Counter Insurgency Expert in Borno, Babangida Musa, advised the security agencies to sustain the gains recorded in the counter insurgency campaign.
Musa said that reports indicated that terrorists were fleeing Borno to other parts of the country.
He called for synergy between security agencies in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon Republics, and urged them to be on alert to monitor terrorists fleeing the region.
“We are told that they have been migrating to the North-West and North-Central to join forces with bandits.
“This analytic alert recommends a proactive state and regional intelligence, security engagement, absolute local vigilance and sustained regional collaborative effort as part of a joint strategy.
“In fighting terrorism all hands must be proactively unified towards a common positive goal,” he said.
He urged security agencies, local and the international communities to adopt a bottom up civil-military approach to effectively end terrorists’ violent activities in the country.

News

Bonny-Bodo Road: FG Offers Additional N20bn, Targets December Deadline

Published

12 hours ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

The Federal Government has agreed to offer additional N20.5 billion for the completion of the Bonny-Bodo road project in December.
The government, however, said if the construction company, Julius Berger, was not ready to accept the offer, the contract will be terminated.
Minister of Works, David Umahi, said this during a meeting with the Managing Director of Julius Berger, Lars Ritcher and members of Bodo-Bonny Road Peace Committee, on Wednesday in Abuja.
The reports that Julius Berger had requested asking for a N28 billion variation on the 82 per cent completed project.
The company hinged its request on the rise in exchange rate, construction materials, and diesel among others.
Umahi, however, said the government was willing to provide N20 billion out of the N28 billion that Julius Berger requested for.
According to him, the Bonny-Bodo road contract which was initially awarded at the cost of N120 billion in 2015, was later varied at N199 billion with a completion dateline of December 2023, which has since elapsed.
The Tide’s source recalls that in 2017, an agreement between the Federal Government, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) and Julus Berger on modalities for funding the project cost of N199.923 billion, without any further increase.
“If you do not accept the Federal Government’s offer by Friday and resume work on the site, the previously expired 14-day ultimatum for termination of project will be enforced.
“I want to let you know that we are the client. No contractor will dictate for this ministry, and there is no job that is compulsory that a particular contractor must do.
“We give you an offer. If you do not like the offer, you walk away. You don’t force us or we don’t force you.
“Agreement of contractual relationship is a mutual understanding,’’ the minister said.
Umahi said that had Julius Berger adhered to the project timetable, the project would have been completed on schedule before the impact of foreign exchange.
“Our position is very simple, we reject the conditions of Julius Berger totally and we ask Berger to please go back to the site to complete the project based on our offer.
“Our offer is unconditional and we say, accept or reject, so you cannot subject our offer to your conditions ,’’ he added
Umahi said the company should be humble in its dealings and exhibit solidarity during challenges.
Earlier, Richter had explained that the company suspended work on the site to seek some clarifications from the ministry.
According to him, the company asked for the augmemtation of N28 bilion because as at the time the contract was awarded the exchange rate was N305 to a dollar and diesel was N350 eor litre.
“We will still require some outstanding materials; that means that the initial agreement can’t fly because the variation of project is not sufficient and the exchange rate is also not in our favour to compensate the additional costs.
“That is why we decided to go back to our original proposal of the augmentation. Augmentation is a very normal process for all contracts,” the managing director said.
Chief Abel Attoni, Palace Secretary, Bonny Kingdom, expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the decision to complete the Bodo-Bonny road project.
Attonu urged the parties to be patriotic and make the necessary sacrifice for the actualisation of the project.

News

Court Vacates Arrest Warrant Against Ehie, Five Others

Published

13 hours ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

The Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, yesterday, set aside the warrant of arrest against Rt. Hon. Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Rivers State, and five others.
Justice Emeka Nwite stated this while delivering his ruling in an application seeking to vacate the warrant of arrest which he issued on January 31, 2024.
The Judge said he was misled by the police in ordering the arrest of Ehie in connection with the burning of the Rivers State House of Assembly on October 30, 2023.
The Police, had told the court that Ehie and five others masterminded the bombing of the Rivers State House of Assembly amid a plot to impeach Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
The five others are Jinjiri Bala, Happy Benedict, Progress Joseph, Adokiye Oyagiri, and Chibuike Peter, alias Rambo.
Justice Emeka Nwite while setting aside the warrant said it has now become a mere academic exercise.
The judge further granted same to the 2nd to 5th Defendant/Applicant in same suit.
Femi Falana, SAN, and Oluwole Aladedoye, SAN, who appeared for the defendants in separate suits, held that the court lacked the jurisdiction to have granted the order.
While Falana filed a motion seeking an order to set aside the January 31 order by Justice Nwite, Aladedoye applied for a stay of execution of the arrest order.
In a motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/112/2024 dated February 2 and filed on February 7 by Falana, Ehie sought two orders, including “an order setting aside the order made on January 31 for want of jurisdiction.
“An order of this honourable court staying the execution of the order made on the 31st January 2024, pending the hearing and determination of this application.”
Giving six grounds of argument, Falana argued that the complainant had not filed any criminal charge or motion before the court.
The senior lawyer argued that the court lacked the territorial jurisdiction to entertain the ex-parte application as the alleged offences of conspiracy, attempted murder, murder and arson took place in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
“He submitted that the court lacked the vires to grant an application to arrest and declare his clients wanted in respect of the alleged offences.
“The complainant/respondent (IG) did not adduce evidence of terrorism in the affidavit in support of the application.
“The complainant/respondent did not cite any section of the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2013 (as amended) alleged to have been contravened by the applicants,” he argued.
Aladedoye in a motion on notice dated and filed February 9, on behalf of the five defendants, sought two orders, including
“an order staying execution or further execution of the order(s) of this honourable court made on the 31st of January, 2024, pending the hearing and determination of the appeal filed by the applicants.
“An order of injunction restraining the complainant from carrying out or further carrying out the orders of this honourable court made on the 31st January 2024, pending the hearing and determination of the appeal filed by the applicant in this case.”
Giving a three-ground argument, Aladedoye said that a notice of appeal had already been filed against Justice Nwite’s orders.
According to the senior lawyer, the notice of appeal contains grounds that challenge the jurisdiction of the honourable court.
The Inspector-General had, in a charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/25/2024, arraigned the defendants on a seven-count criminal charge bordering on terrorism and murder.

News

13 Students Bag First Class, 182 PhD As IAUOE Graduates 5,550, Today

Published

13 hours ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

The authorities of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUOE), Rumuolumeni, in Rivers State, have stated that 13 students will be graduating with first class while 182 graduands will bag Ph.D during the 42nd convocation ceremony of the university billed to hold today and tomorrow.
The Acting Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Okechuku Onuchuku, disclosed this during pre-convocation press briefing held in his office, yesterday, to unveil the programme for the convocation ceremony.
Onuchuku said that the 13 students were among the 4,653 graduands expected to graduate for the 2022/2023 academic session with first degree, while 897 students will be graduating with postgraduate degrees.
The Acting Vice Chancellor while giving the breakdown stated that 13 students made first class, 890 students bagged second class upper while 2,739 students had second class lower for first degree.
He further stated that 182 graduands bagged PhD, 667 got master’s degree and 48 got postgraduate diploma, adding that the convocation ceremony will hold today and tomorrow for first degree graduands and postgraduate graduands respectively.
He said that a total of 47 programmes out of the 54 programmes being undertaken at the first degree levels had been given full accreditation by the National University Commission (NUC) as well as all the programmes at the postgraduate school.
“We have ensured that our programmes both at the first degree and post graduates are in line with the NUC stipulated guidelines and speculations. We have also ensured that we are in line with both our academic and administrative policies,” he said.
Prof. Okechukwu urged the graduating students of the institution to always remember to use thier positions to help their alma mater as well as project the institution in a good image in the larger society.
“Try to ensure you finish any project you want to do, evaluate it first and avoid unfinished or abandoned projects. We will be graduating first degree graduands on Friday while Saturday will be for postgraduates, “he added.
Prof. Onuchukwu also said his administration had achieved a lot since he assumed office as Acting Vice Chancellor, stressing that his administration had improved on the welfare of the staff and the students.
“There are a lot of projects completed in the school; we have also given scholarship to some students and also encouraged departments to do same. We also impacted positively on our host communities”, he said.

Akujobi Amadi