Like a wildfire borne by fiery winds or like a rush of blood to the head, the US and UK Embassies recent travel advisory issued on the 22nd of October created a range of narratives for different sections of Nigerians.
The advisory like the ominous soothsayer in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar had forewarned of terrorist attacks in the nation’s capital city, this led the embassy to shut down their activities as well as urge its citizenry and non emergency staff to leave the country.
This resulted in a panic of some sort as schools and businesses were reportedly shut down while a number of travel plans and other sundry activities were reportedly cancelled or scaled down in view of such an advisory.
Matters became much worse when the US embassy again issued the authorized departure status to its citizens resident in Abuja as well as urged those who much preferred to wait behind to have a backup emergency action plan.
Responding, the Nigerian Government described the advisory as an attempt to stampede the nation and as one with its sovereignty much intact would definitely not have any of such!
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister for Information simply conflated the advisory with the rising state of insecurity in the same United States and though he agreed with the right of the US government to ask its citizens to return home, he much frowned on the panic reactions such an advisory had created , noting that the Nigerian security agencies were much on top of their game and assured both its citizens as well as non citizens that there was indeed no reason to panic.
Truth be told, this will not be the first time the US embassy will be issuing such an advisory although this time such did come with a “Code Red” status. The question now is why was it just the US and the United Kingdom that issued such an advisory? For as at the time of its issuance other embassies of major nations domiciled on Nigerian soil were operating as usual. Now, isn’t it bothersome that key partners of the Five Eyes agreement and other partners for intelligence sharing whether it be under the Five Eyes Plus, Six Eyes, Nine Eyes or 14 Eyes did not toe the same line with both the US and UK embassies? Could it be that the intelligence garnered by the US and the United Kingdom were indeed specific to the likelihood of attacks against the embassies of both countries as well as their citizens and thus did not need any form of sharing with their sister embassies? Could it also be that their respective agencies had shared such intelligence with their counterparts but such information had largely been ignored by the recipients?
Again, there are many who ask if the US Government through its embassy could not have shared such information or relayed such to the Nigerian government which then would have passed such information to our security agencies for immediate attention without causing the kind of panic it’s advisory did raise? The argument stems much from the arrangement between the Nigerian government and the United States government on fighting terrorism, such an arrangement I gathered has seen both nations exchange vital information and workable intelligence. This school of thought much believes that the main intent of such an advisory was mainly to embarrass the Nigerian government and its security apparatus.
To think about this, the United States as a nation has as its foremost agenda the protection of its citizens both at home as well as abroad and to be fair to this super power it has very much sought to do such. Perhaps owing to the times our security services have been seen to have dropped the ball in a number of embarrassing scenarios, the United States maybe out of its looming responsibility to its citizens resident here and as well out of its super power arrogance had decided not to trust the Nigerian government or its intelligence community. While this thinking serves not as a slight on our security agencies as I am aware of the numerous sacrifices they are making so that people like myself can move around freely and sleep at night ,the issuance of the US travel advisory whether it be in good faith or bad faith, factual or misguided should serve as a wake up call to the country’s intelligence and security circles. Truth is that we cannot demand respect from nations like the United States in situations such as these and expect them to trust us with the lives of their citizens when we struggle to guarantee much the safety of ours.
With stories of institutionalized corruption within the security circles, intense bickering within the chains of command of our security agencies as well as between these agencies and a heightened lack of professionalism, the Nigerian security apparatus is apparently struggling to beat back these insurgents.
It is therefore not enough to cringe and shout ourselves hoarse over such an advisory, which to me is a head trip to listen to, it is not enough alone for us to believe that such is an affront on our sovereignty if we do not seemingly get our acts together and use such to earn the respect of the global community.