Category: Special Report

The people of Oforola and Umuejem Obinze communities in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State are counting their losses after a devastating rainstorm wreaked havoc in their communities. DAMIAN DURUIHEOMA examines the impact of the storm which killed two persons and rendered many homeless.

Residents of Umuejem Obinze and Oforola in Owerri West council area of Imo State are not happy at the moment following a rainstorm that rendered many of them homeless.

In Oforola, four villages – Umuogide, Umueke, Amaku and Umuadu – were affected while Umuejem village was affected in Obinze with heavy impact.

While two persons were said to have died in the incident with several others injured, no fewer than 90 buildings were ravaged by the devastating storm leaving those affected in serious distress.

The people, who had thought that it was going to rain gently, as usual, were shocked when the heavens opened up and the shower accompanied by a windstorm that blew off their roofs and uprooted trees.

Four church buildings, over 70 electric poles and business outlets and a private school building in the area were also damaged by the storm.

The incident which happened on Thursday, April 8, 2021, around 2 pm, has now forced those affected by the rainstorm in the communities to either be squatting with friends or relations or living in rented apartments.

A visit to the affected communities would leave visitors worried over the incident that befell the locals.

One of the victims was an unidentified customer who came to a brewery depot at Obinze to buy drinks. He was said to be taking shelter in the business facility when the rain started as the rainstorm destroyed the building housing the depot and a nearby church.

It was gathered that the customer died before help could come his way. The number of things destroyed in the depot was huge. Several vehicles and crates containing drinks of different kinds were destroyed.

When our correspondent visited the depot, excavation was ongoing to unearth things buried by the debris.

One of the workers who refused to give his name because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said, “The rainstorm wreaked havoc. One of our customers taking shelter over there died. The warehouse was pulled out from its foundation by the rainstorm. Several goods were destroyed. We have never experienced this before.”

A resident, Mrs Eberechi Ekeigwe, who was scooping rainwater from the sitting room and other rooms including the bedroom when our correspondent visited, said her husband’s house was one of the most affected houses in Umueke village.

Taking our correspondent around the building, the young mother of two narrated how the windstorm pulled off the roof of the building and destroyed many household valuables.

She said: “It happened in the afternoon when most people were not at home. A building was pulled down by the rainstorm. Our entire house is waterlogged. We are still taking water away after the incident occurred. Our property was affected and no history that such had happened before.  My mother-in-law said that it had never happened before and I thank God that my children were not around it could have been worse. They are on a holiday.”

Another victim, Mrs Immaculate Okorie, showed our correspondent how the downpour destroyed the doors and windows of her building and affected some of her household equipment.

She said she practically carried her four grandchildren together in order to save them from the destruction.

“I carried my four grandchildren on my back and all over my body because it was as if the whole world was turning upside down.

“The rainstorm almost rendered me homeless. It destroyed the windows, roofs and doors of our house. It also affected some of our property. This is saddening. Government should come to our aid,” she said.

One of the victims, an 85-year-old Mama Grace Sunday disclosed that two of her grandchildren were buried in the debris during the stormy wind.

She said: “I was inside when the wind started and our building caved in. The two children were inside too and the wind carried away the roof with the ceilings falling on top of the children. You needed to be here to appreciate the trepidation.”

However, Mama Grace expressed gratitude to God for not allowing trees uprooted by a rainstorm to kill her and her grandchildren.

The octogenarian, who now sleeps in the last room in her husband’s building spared by the rainstorm, said though she had been rendered almost homeless, she was grateful to God.

She said: “What happened that afternoon was frightening. I was at home when it started. My grandchildren were also playing around the compound. They were trapped in the fallen building but they were not badly wounded. I thank God that no life was lost. Since 1960 that I got married here, we have never experienced this kind of rainstorm before. I saw it all. It pulled roofs and buildings. The government should come to the aid of an old widow like me. The government should assist us to rebuild the house.’’

A businessman on Obinze-Umuokanne Road, Charles Anya, said the incident put fear in the residents.

According to him, “The rampaging wind destroyed about 35 electric poles along Umuokanne-Obinze road. It also claimed three lives and destroyed two church buildings and a brewery depot on this road.’’

While those who could afford it, had since commenced the rebuilding of their homes, most others, were still squatting in people’s houses as they could barely feed themselves.

A community leader in Umueke village, Oforola Udochukwu Atasie, disclosed that many displaced victims who could not find neighbours to squat with temporarily converted the community’s secondary school to their abode for the first two nights after the incident.

Atasie narrated that the rainstorm occurred in the afternoon when most people had gone out to seek daily bread, declaring that the community was in pains.

“What happened on that afternoon was unfortunate. We are lucky that the incident happened when most people were out. Many people from four villages have been rendered homeless. All we are asking for is help from the government, NGOs and institutions. The people are predominantly farmers. They don’t have money to fix their houses and start a new life.

“As you already know, the cost of materials and labour is high now. We need help. Government should give us a sense of belonging by coming to our aid in form of relief materials to cushion the excruciating effects of this difficult moment in the lives of the people of the community.’’

The member representing Owerri West state constituency in the Imo State House of Assembly and indigene of Oforola Community, Kanayo Onyemaechi, decried the damages caused by the windstorm saying, even his own house was affected by the windstorm.

He said though, he had attracted the attention of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), his worry now was how to ensure that the poor victims rebuild their houses and return back to normal life.

According to him, the damages caused by the windstorm were humongous and could only be seen.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency said that at least 576 people were displaced, 35 houses and over 35 poles were destroyed by the windstorm in Obinze community alone.

The acting head of the Imo-Abia operations office of NEMA, Chidi Ogundu, expressed shock at the level of damage the windstorm caused in the community.

Ogundu stated: “We are conducting a joint assessment with other humanitarian agencies in Owerri to ascertain the level of damage caused by the rainstorm. It was evident from the assessment that the rainstorm wreaked havoc at Umueje village in Obinze community causing a wide range of damage. The destruction is regrettable. It is saddening that this occurred at this time.

“Residential buildings, churches, business premises and critical infrastructures were completely destroyed leaving a lot of people in agony.”

He said as of the time of the assessment by the joint team, one person died and three persons who he said sustained various degrees of injury were receiving treatment.

He said the assessment further revealed that millions of naira worth of goods and property were damaged.

Ogundu commiserated with the victims and promised to let the relevant authorities know about the incident for possible assistance.

The TELA Maize Project which builds on progress made from a decade of excellent breeding work under the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) Project has gone through three experiments of Confined Field Trials (CFT) at the research farm of Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. JULIANA AGBO examines progress and  the way forward after the third CFT harvest

As Nigeria joins six other African countries including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Africa, where the TELA maize is currently being developed to improve farmer’s production on the continent, the country hopes to bridge the maize deficit so as to meet up local demand.

The TELA Maize Project is a public-private partnership led by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) working towards initiating commercialisation of transgenic drought-tolerant and insect-protected maize varieties to enhance food security in Sub-Saharan Africa.

While the transgenic crop developed to resist Fall Army Worm (FAW) and drought has gone through three experiments of Confined Field Trials (CFT) at the research farm of Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, it has recorded a huge success.

This reporter, who was at the research farm of IAR at the harvest of the third trial of TELA maize, observed that the newly developed maize is resistant to drought and stem borer such as fall army worm which could cost 80 percent yield losses.

It was also learnt that the addition of insect protection will also reduce pesticide use which will bring benefits to both the environment and human health. A more reliable harvest will give farmers additional confidence to invest in their farms and improve their farming practices.

Confined field trials

According to African Biosafety Network of Expertise, confined field trial (CFT) is an experiment in the open field. The aim is to test and evaluate the performances of one or more lines of a crop with a new trait(s) introduced by genetic modification (GM). CFTs are conducted on a small scale (often 1 ha or less), and often on an official experiment station.

Explaining how long the CFT trials took in the research farm, Principal Investigator of the project, Professor Rabiu Adamu said the experiment started in March 2020 under dry season, while the second trial was in June 2020 under the wet season farming and the third one was in  November 2020 to April 2021.

Adamu explained that the trial was under confinement because the crop has not been regulated.

“We are doing this trial for the third time, we started March last year, we did the first trial under dry season, while we did the second one in June 20, and the third one in November 2020 to this April.

“This trial  is under confinement because the crop has not been regulated, it is composed of three major trial, the Bt, hybrids to resist FAW and drought. The first trial are those raw materials we are trying to breed that are resistant to stem borer, the second trial are those materials we are evaluating that could do well in the presence of drought under the optimum, giving that you have drought and insect pest, try to manage them”, Professor Adamu said.

Analysing why the trial is confined, the Lead Trial and Pipeline Testing (PTP), Dr Muhyideen Oyekunle, said trial is confined  because they are dealing with a genetically modified organism, which needs approval before going to farmers’ field.

“Until we get approval for environmental release, that is when we can take this product out of the confinement to farmers’ field.

Production yield

While explaining that the project is aimed at alleviating the two major constraint  of insect pest and drought that affect maize, Adamu added that the maize is a high yielding variety.

He lamented that the country produce only 12 million tonnes against the 18 million tonnes required, adding that there is a deficit of 6 million tonnes.

“Nigeria produces only 12 million metric tonnes of maize, the country requires at least 18 million, it means there is a deficit of almost 6 million, we need to bridge that deficit. We can do this by increasing the land areas under cultivation or produce high yielding varieties.

On yield the newly developed maize can produce per hectare, Professor Adamu explained that it can produced up to 8 tonnes per hectare, adding that most of varieties cannot produce more than 2.5 to 3 tonnes per hectare in Nigeria farms.

“With this variety under on farm trial we were able to record up to 8 tonnes per hectare, this is quite a commendable achievement, from 2.5 to 3 tonnes, we are recording 8 tonnes. This will go a long way in boosting the productivity of maize in Nigeria and reduce the food insecurity we are facing.

Before now, Nigerian maize yields are less than 3 tonnes per hectare because of the nature of the varieties we use, this variety we are working on can produce up to 8 tons per hectare, this is more than double of what we got in our farms.

“This will translate into more income, food security and boost the economy”, he added.

Benefits

According to AATF, the newly developed maize variety will provide valuable economic, agronomic and environmental benefits to farmers by helping them produce more reliable harvests under moderate drought conditions and better grain quality due to reduced insect damage.

“This will help farmers harvest enough to feed their families, a surplus which they can sell to increase their incomes, and help strengthen local communities and countries”, it said.

Speaking on the economic benefit, the Executive Director, IAR, Professor Mohammad Ishiyaku said, the savings farmers will make from the maize variety is estimated N9 billion from insecticide spray of 500hectares land and drought effects.

According to him, “The savings farmers will make from this maize variety is estimated to be over 3 billion naira from insecticide spray of 500hectares land and over 6billion naira from drought effects.

“This is to ensure that we continue to expend government resources strictly on those problems that will lead to national economic growth and self-sufficiency in food production.

“The Institute for Agricultural Research Samaru in its almost 99 years of existence has developed and released crop varieties that are climate resilient and farmer friendly.

“IAR recognises the importance of cutting edge tools in sharpening research output. It is in this vein that it combines conventional and modern genetic engineering tools to discover scientific solutions to farmers and consumer problems.

“IAR as a leader in Agricultural biotechnology in the country is ahead amongst Nigerian Agricultural Research Institutes in deployment of biotechnology tools to provide solutions to farmers, it has recorded enormous success in the release of Cotton that is resistant to bollworm which causes up to 80 percent yield loss in cotton. It has also successfully developed and released the first pod borer resistant cowpea SAMPEA 20T”, added.

Speaking further on the economic benefit of the maize, the Country Coordinator, Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), Dr Rose Gidado,  said with that increase in yield, farmers’ livelihood will be enhanced and also get more money.

“This newly developed maize will affect so many lives positively and reduce the prices of maize. Presently, a bag of maize goes for N20,000, we know how FAW has deviated maize farming in Nigeria and farmers are still suffering, by the time this maize variety is ready and get to farmers, they will all smile.

However, the Director General, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Professor Abdullahi Mustapha said, with the adoption of TELA maize, Nigeria will be self-sufficient in maize production which will also improve the economy of the country.

Mustapha said biotechnology and its tools has opened a window of opportunity to Nigeria to address challenges facing food crops.

“As a country, agriculture is one of the major employers of labour, but in recent times, our agricultural processes started encountering challenges of insects/pests, drought, weediness, floods, gully erosion,  oil spillage among others that led to reduced yield and made farmers very unattractive,  especially to the youth”, he said.

He assured that NABDA will continue to work with IAR and other institutions across Nigeria and beyond to promote biotechnology usage  and research development in agriculture as one of the most potent options available to revive agriculture and make it net contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Way forward

Analysing what’s next after the third CFT harvest , the Lead Trial and Pipeline Testing said they will analyse the data, prepare a document and submit the dossier to National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) to review and get approval for environmental release before going for national performing trial.

He said: “After the harvest, we are going to analyse the data and prepare document to get approval for environmental release, we are going to submit the dossier to NBMA to review and once we get approval that we can come out of the confinement, then we can now have a national performing trial and along the line”.

Corroborating this, the Principal investigator said the TELA maize will go outside the confinement which is on farm field trials outside Zaria.

Civil aviation regulation of airlines and others is increasingly coming under scrutiny following the altercation between AZMAN Air and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). NCAA, a few weeks ago, released a preliminary report on its audit of the airline, which mandated it to implement some corrective actions. However, experts are of the opinion that the regulator should be proactive and not wait for airlines to undermine safety regulations before discharging its oversight functions, KELVIN OSA-OKUNBOR reports.

The aviation community has been aghast over the drama playing out in Nigeria where operators are questioning the regulator – Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) – over its methodology in the discharge of its statutory functions.

Recently, AZMAN Air and NCAA traded accusations over the suspension of AZMAN’s operations. The airline alleged ill-treatment by the regulator while the regulator said it was impartial in the discharge of its duties.

Citing disregard for safety procedures, the NCAA on March 19, suspended AZMAN ‘s operations  and grounded its fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft, to enable it carry out a technical safety and economic audit of the airline.

Among other reasons, the NCAA said the airline had experienced incidents of tyre bursts on landing, a trend that could lead to tragedy.

The NCAA said over a period of about six weeks, Azman Air’s Boeing 737 aircraft operating scheduled passenger flights were involved in three separate incidents, resulting in damage to the aircraft in each case but with no loss of life.

But, the airline alleged that the regulator carried out selective  grounding of  its operations, insisting that other carriers experienced similar serious incidents but were not sanctioned.

Worried over the trend, the NCAA within two weeks of grounding AZMAN Air carried out an audit of its operations which revealed a series of safety violations.

According to the Director-General of NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu, the authority would have ignored the allegations raised by the airline, but it was constrained to put the records straight by ensuring the books of the carrier were looked into to establish that there was no ill-feeling against the carrier.

The preliminary report on the audit of the airline’s operations revealed a gross violation of safety regulations.

The audit revealed that there was “complete non staffing of the Safety Management Department and the staffing of the Quality Management Department with only one officer, thereby making it impossible to effectively implement Safety and Quality Management Systems duties as required by Nig.CARs 9.2.2.3 and 9.2.2.10 respectively.”

The report also stated that Azman Air Ltd was found to be in violation of Nig.CARs 18.10.3 regarding the submission of monthly financial health reports to the NCAA.

It said : “This is evidenced in Azman Air’s failure to meet up with the monthly obligation in submitting the required financial health report for months despite several reminders. Last submission was in July, 2020. During this audit, Azman submitted reports for December, 2020 and January 2021,” the report said.

Azman Air was also found to be in violation of Section 12 (1) of Civil Aviation Act, 2006  regarding to non-remittance of five per cent Ticket Sales Charge.

“This is evidenced by the airline being indebted to the authority to the tune of One billion Five Hundred and Forty Five million, Two hundred and Sixty Two thousand One hundred and Twenty naira, Thirty One kobo (N1, 545,262,120.31) as at December, 2020. The airline was found to be in violation of Nig.CARs 18.12.6 as regards to signing an agreement with the Authority for direct debit. This is evidenced by delay in signing of the Direct Debit Tripartite Agreement with NCAA,” NCAA said.

In addition to so many other infractions, NCAA further said the airline’s Accountable Manager exhibited a lack of understanding of his duties and responsibilities as contained in the Operations Manuals, which indicated lack of evidence of the Accountable Manager’s involvement in Management Reviews of Quality Audit Findings.

However, AZMAN Air has since written a letter of apology to the NCAA on the matter.

Accountable Manager of Azman Air, Muhammad Abdulmunaf, in a statement, expressed regret over the development, saying the allegations against the person of NCAA DG were not informed by the Azman chairman.

“We denied management’s knowledge and approval for such careless and unfortunate allegations made against the person of the DG but promised to conduct internal investigations as to the source/s of the allegations.

“We have now conducted such in-house investigations, which led to accusations and counter-accusations amongst our staff as to who did it. We have established that, at least, it came from one of them, hence our disappointment with ourselves.

“At the suspension of our services by the NCAA, an overzealous staff, who erroneously thought that the suspension was dictated by our failure to pay for the advert, without the knowledge and consent of the management of Azman, authored the unfortunate allegations against the DG.

“We wish to unreservedly tender our apologies to both the person of Capt. Musa Nuhu and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. We state categorically that there wasn’t and there is still, no iota of truth in the allegations which are capable of damaging the reputations of the DG and the NCAA. We equally extend our apologies to the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, for any embarrassment our actions may have caused him and the government.

“We regret every inconvenience caused to the DG, NCAA, the Minister of Aviation and the aviation industry in Nigeria as a result of our publication of that falsehood. While we seek forgiveness for our actions, we promise to tighten our communication controls to avoid future embarrassing situations like this one caused by us.”

Since the report became public, many  Nigerians have  become apprehensive about the state of air safety.

Some experts say the trend of airlines challenging the regulator needs rigorous scrutiny as it would not only affect the safety reputation of the country in the international civil aviation arena, but expose the underbelly of civil aviation regulations.

They, however, gave kudos to the NCAA for being able to intervene at the time it did. But, industry watchers are worried over the long wait after the allegations of corner cutting and obvious incompetence took place before the regulator intervened. They asked : ”  Why didn’t NCAA stop the airline after noticing the initial lack of commitment safety standards?

Some industry stakeholders have criticised the NCAA, alleging that may be some of its officials had started “looking at faces” before acting.

The Chairman, West Link Airlines, Captain Ibrahim Mshelia, advised that to forestall a recurrence of safety infractions of the last few months, businessmen should relinquish management of airlines to professionals to handle the day-to-day affairs.

He knocked the NCAA over what he described as lapses on its side in the certification of key position holders like accountable managers, stressing that for that position it went beyond checking a list as there was the need to show understanding of the functions of that position.

Mshelia said aviation regulation world over was standard and there was no such thing as over-regulating airlines, especially when safety is the key word and where airlines have the primary function of being responsible for his day-to-day operations and safety.

On  NCAA’s shortcomings, Mshelia said: ”So, what civil aviation authority has done in that case where they need to get a knock is because, they were complacent in certifying the key post holders you must have post holders that are qualified and if you have key post holder who is supposed to be at the helm directing affairs, he must comply with certain minimum standard just as ICAO says for the civil aviation authority  man to inspect you and we hammer on that , we insist on that and the civil aviation authority  tries to respond, that must make sure that who they send to inspect must have qualifications equivalent to those they are coming to inspect or above.”

Nuhu shed more light on the Azman situation. He stressed that what happened to the airline was not a punitive measure; but the civil aviation authorities responsibility and duty to guide and work with operators and assist them to ensure they are in compliance with our regulations

On the airline’s key post holders who were found wanting during the audit, Nuhu admitted the regulator erred.

He said: “I met them but I think it is my responsibility as director-general when I see something wrong to rectify it which is what we are doing.”

Following complaints by passengers of the Nigerian Railway Corporation rail service, the Federal Government introduced the e-ticketing platform to checkmate the fraudulent practices at the various stations, especially those on the Abuja-Kaduna corridor. FAITH YAHAYA reports that despite this measure, there are still compromises of these seemingly foolproof measures.

Most Nigerians preferred land transportation to air and sea modes of movement from one point to the other. But that was then. These days, more Nigerians have a preference for the rail mode of movement. Several factors contributed to why the majority of travellers jettison their once chosen means of transportation.

Lack of sustained infrastructural development, especially roads has left the existing ones dilapidated. Travelling by road became something of an afterthought. This is so because the traumata travellers encounter while journeying to their various destination in their cars are better imagined. They sit in their cars for never-ending hours. The experiences are sickly sweet.

Added to the problem of bad roads that make travelling by land hellishly dangerous is the bourgeoning insecurity in the country; a situation that has encouraged more Nigerians, especially the affluent, to embrace the rail mode of transportation.

Of late, the Federal Government has realised the need to diversify the transport infrastructure by building more roads and rail lines to mitigate the problem associated with land means of transport.

One of the rail lines built by the government is the Abuja-Kaduna train service. This action has resulted in serious passenger traffic. The traffic makes it difficult for passengers to secure seats in the coaches. Securing a seat usually requires the purchase of a ticket which would be shown to the officials at the various stations before one is allowed to board the train.

The high demand for the tickets has created an opportunity for sharp practices at the stations. Some corrupt officials have devised means of selling tickets to desperate passengers at under-the-counter rates. With the fear of abduction, and robbery on the Abuja-Kaduna Highway, and other roads in Nigeria, some passengers have no option than to buy the ticket at exorbitant prices.

There were several complaints in the past by passengers and concerned Nigerians over the hardship most people go through just to get a ticket to travel on the Abuja-Kaduna train service. There were cases of ticket racketeering which were mostly attributed to the members of staff of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) working at the various stations along the route.

The attention of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi was drawn to it and he threatened to sack perpetrators of the act during his unscheduled visits to the stations.

One would have thought that the threat would have reduced the act but the perpetrators seem to always be a step ahead as they have found a way around their fraudulent practice which continues to boom. Following the complaints and continuous practice, the Ministry of Transportation worked with the Nigerian Railway Corporation and decided to introduce the e-ticketing platform as a measure to check and eradicate ticket racketeering practice, and increase passenger fare purchase options.

It was estimated that the e-ticket sale will generate N16 billion by 2029. The late Director-General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Chidi Izuwah had said that the sale of an online ticket for train services would hit N16 billion by 2029.

He said: “Financial model shows that NRC and the Federal Government will earn over N16 billion as revenue from e-ticketing by 2029. That will provide additional revenue for the government.”

On the introduction of the online platform, the Minister, a few years ago, said: “I agree that it is a solution to the madness that we have in Rigasa Station down to Idu. It will go a long way to reduce the madness because if people can buy their tickets from their offices and homes, they will not be coming to the train station to cause the chaos we are seeing there.”

In January this year, in response to the yearnings of people, Amaechi launched the N900 million e-ticketing platform of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and assured Nigerians that the Federal Government would ensure that passengers get a better travel experience from the country’s train service network.

He said: “Today marks the beginning of the automation of ticket sales in all our major stations on the Abuja-Kaduna train service. I believe that deploying the secured ticketing solution is in line with world best practice and will enhance efficiency, save time and promote accountability while also reducing leakages and promoting economic growth.”

Sadly, barely three months after e-ticketing was introduced, it is faced with some challenges. Currently, there are reports of renewed ticket racketeering and fraud.

The Minister, during a world press conference recently, disclosed that those breaching the e-ticketing platform smiled home during the Easter break as they sold tickets at exorbitant prices. He alleged that the perpetrators were conniving with members of staff of the NRC and the SecureID Limited (the company responsible for the e-ticket platform) at the various stations. He expressed fear that if the practice is not checked, it could lead to serious challenge.

The Minister said: “I have consistently said that members of NRC staff would try to breach what we put in place and if they match ID to the purchaser, there will be no problem but when they want to breach it, they don’t ask for ID.

“I heard that they sold the ticket that they bought for N2, 500 during Easter for N10, 000. Imagine what the buyer would have done with N7, 500 if he got to Kaduna with N2, 500. That is quite unfair. They should not bring me back to work at Idu or Kubwa stations, they should not.

“We put a system in place and that is why people need to know that some Nigerians are smart. I don’t know how God gave them that smartness.

“Everybody was shouting electronic ticketing, we have done it and now they are breaching it every day. They buy as many as 10 to 15 tickets and then. I suspect that they compromise our members of staff not to ask for ID because ID is required for you to buy the ticket.

“So, when they buy in bulk, they resell but if the member of staff of the NRC insists that every ticket must match the identity, then they will not do it. We need to understand that the benefit outweighs the disadvantage. The benefit is not just that we are trying to eradicate ticket racketeering, but also security, which is essential.

“A man who may be a bomber may be given a ticket that does not belong to him and he boards and then we are in trouble. So, we must match the ticket with the face carrying the ticket so that we don’t run into security problems.

“I was part of the system that built that structure. If you follow that structure, there will be no ticket racketeering. The only way you can racketeer that ticket is when you buy as many tickets as you want to buy and they don’t match your face to the ticket. Then you can go and the only person who does that is the member of staff of the NRC or member of staff of the company that has the contract. But I have directed the Managing Director of the NRC to fish out the people or person responsible for that.

“Those responsible should either be sacked or thrown out of there because if you have serious people there, there will be no need for this challenge. The reason we have this e-ticketing was that people were compromising at the ticket sale points at the stations and the computer will not compromise.”

The Managing Director of the NRC, Fidet Okhiria said: “Everybody should be happy with the e-ticket platform in the sense that you can, from anywhere, purchase your ticket. But Nigerians are still who they are; they have gone the extra mile.”

On matching names with an ID card, he said efforts have been made and still ongoing to surmount any security breach.

He said: “We have that system in place like we have in the airports to check those boarding and it was deliberate that you cannot buy more than two tickets at a time.

“So, people who complain that they cannot access the platform are those people who enter multiple emails to be able to buy more tickets than it is approved and most times, they forget their passwords. We have traced it from the backend section system of the platform and we found out that people create multiple emails, like 20 to 40 emails to enable them to accumulate the tickets and block others who may want to buy and the system is fighting back.

“So, when you have more than one email on the system and you want to register another one and you cannot access it, you will call me to complain that the platform is blocked.

“We are crosschecking also. We have software called an eraser. It detects some of the fraudulent practices. If someone buys a ticket and he edits the name to match that of the person travelling or the person the ticket is sold to, we have also ensured that if the name does not match the font of the ticket, then he cannot use it to travel. People are not happy with that. “We have problems currently but we meet every week so that we can update it. People should exercise patience because we have people working hard to discredit the system and the government. I promise that we are working hard with the platform provider to ensure that such elements and people are prevented from sabotaging the government’s efforts.”

Analysts argue that with the unsavoury experiences of passengers, it is time the authorities addressed the problems to curb further hardships passengers may go through daily. Also, they believe the perpetrators of the act must be arrested to deter those who may want to cash in on the desperations of travellers.

The achievement of N1 trillion annual market turnover by Nigerian Bureaux De Change (BDCs) has reinforced their prime role in the economy. The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) are now asking the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make BDCs pay-out agents for $25 billion diaspora remittances  market for enhanced dollar liquidity, writes COLLINS NWEZE.

The Bureaux De Change (BDC) subs-sector plays key role in the foreign exchange market.

The BDC operators ensure that forex gets to retail end of the market for travelers needing personal or business travel allowances, parents or guardians seeking dollars to pay for their children’s schools fees abroad or people that need dollars to pay medical bills abroad.

At the last count, the annual transaction turnover for the 5,300 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) -licenced BDCs stood at N1 trillion. That sum speaks to the large volume of business that passes through this segment of the forex market on annual basis.

It was in the face of these huge contributions that the operators, under the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) are seeking CBN’s nod to make them pay-out agents for $25 billion diaspora remittances that flow into the economy annually.

That position was communicated to the CBN during the ABCON Annual General Meeting on Zoom held at the weekend Lagos.

ABCON President Aminu Gwadabe restated the prime role played by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-licensed BDCs in promoting exchange rate stability, forex liquidity and forex sale to retail end of the market.

Gwadabe also listed the challenges facing the sub-sector, especially the low transaction margins on dollar sales, which continuously threaten the survival of BDCs businesses.

New diaspora remittances agents named

The CBN recently approved 47 International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOS) for foreign exchange remittances business in the country.

The CBN said IMTOS have been playing major role in attracting more dollars into the economy.

The apex bank listed the approved operators as Aftab Currency Exchange Limited, Caperemit UK Limited, Centrexcard Limited, Colony Capital Limited, Cashpot Limited, eTransact Limited, Flutterwave Technology Solutions Limited, Funtech Global Communications Limited, Interswitch Limited, MoneyGram, WorldRemit Limited, Ria Financial, among others.

The operators, it added, are to help Nigerians in Diaspora remit dollar home and boost dollar liquidity. It therefore cautioned Nigerians in Diaspora against patronising illegal money transfer operators in the interest of the economy.

The apex bank said it was aware of the increasing patronage of illegal IMTOs for the purpose of home remittances.

The ABCON meeting, which had the backing of CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, was also attended by the apex bank directors, Representatives of Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Financial Action Task Force (FATF), DataPro CEO and over 550 top BDC directors, traders and other attendees nationwide.

All the financial sector regulators, watchdogs and facilitators at the event took turns to chart a formidable future for BDCs. They are confident of a future for BDCs built on regulatory compliance, fight against illicit financial flows, and support for CBN’s exchange rate stability mandate.

Gwadabe further highlighted the urgent need to foster better and positive image for the BDC sub-sector. He said the BDCs needed a positive and rewarding image different from what the naysayers have fed the public with.

“We need to tell everyone that ABCON members are different. Majority of BDCs are not criminals. We need respect from members of the public,” he stated.

He said with over 20,000 Nigerians employed by the sub-sector, there was need to support the BDC business for sustained economic growth and employment generation.

Gwadabe, who spoke on the theme: “BDCS Operations: A Trillion Naira Sub Sector, Issues of Formalisation, Regulation & Way Forward”, said foreign currencies dealt in by a BDCs are derived from private sources and such other sources which may include the CBN window as determined by the CBN from time to time for the purpose of funding Business Travel Allowance (BTA), Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), School Fees Payment abroad, Medicals, mortgage and subscription. There are also other autonomous sources such as Diaspora Remittances, walk in customers and bank sources.

He said ABCON is now training Compliance Officers to ensure they are acquainted with what is required of them, especially on monthly rendition of results and tracking illicit capital flows through compliance.

According to Gwadabe, BDCs are complying with the rendition of suspicious transactions reports as directed by NFIU, CBN, and EFCC.

“Directors of BDCs are being trained, and after training, whoever is found wanting will be recommended for sanctions,” he said.

He said BDCs are required to comply with all extant rules & regulations prescribed by the CBN, while the CBN closely supervises and monitors their operations.

“In compliance with the provisions of Bank and Other Financial Institutions (BOFIA) as amended, every BDC renders returns to the CBN in prescribed format and within the deadline stipulated by the CBN. The records of the BDCs are made readily available to the CBN examiners as and when requested including carrying out customer due diligence, corporate governance and tax returns,” he said.

He said that ABCON has over the years established itself as a key player in the BDC industry, and has also made several commitments and sacrifices to ensure that the sector continue to thrive despite all odds.

“The recognition of the role of BDCs in Nigeria financial sector remains the first step to building a sustainable and viable forex market that is comparable to what is obtainable in other developed economies. But getting the Nigerian BDC sector to where it is desired to be demands hard work, quality leadership, regulatory foresight and sound government policies,” he said.

Digitisation/Transaction Margin Review

Gwadabe said that BDCs have achieved major success with the digitization of their operations as operators can now file their reports from convenient point without clustering at CBN’s offices.

He said ABCON digitised BDCs operations with the official launch and take-off of the ABCON Live Run Automation Portal in Lagos. The project, which has the backing of the CBN, ended decades of manual filling of regulatory reports by BDCs and enhanced global competitiveness of operators.

The portal, which is a game-changer in the Nigerian BDC Industry, is the final phase of automating all BDCs’ operations and integrating them with the operations of CBN, NFIU and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) for improved compliance with regulation and seamless operations.

He said ABCON is working with its consultants to revamp the naijabdcs.com to MyBdc.com. This will make the site transactional, informative, and finally nip abokifx.com in the bud.

Gwadabe also called on the CBN to review the transaction margin for BDCs to enable operators to stay in business as the sector needs profitable margin to sustain operators’ businesses.

He disclosed the N2 per dollar margin currently earned by BDCs was discouraging insufficient to sustain their operations and discourages foreigners from investing in the sector.

CBN, NFIU, NIBSS speak

In his presentation, CBN Director Williams Kanya said the apex bank acknowledges the support of BDCs under ABCON adding that the apex bank has key interest in ABCON operations.

He said: “I am happy that BDCs and ABCON have become more professional. The ABCON team has understanding beyond what they do and this makes CBN’s work easy. We are happy with what they are doing to keep the exchange rate stable and promote sustained economic growth. The CBN remains the biggest supplier of dollars to BDCs and has pumped enough liquidity to the sector.”

Kanya added that speculation remains big problem, adding that CBN stands with ABCON on balancing of rates. “Speculation will be bad business going forward as people will keep losing money. Also, we need rendition of returns from BDCs not to witch-hunt anyone, but to take decisions that will favor the economy with the data”.

The Acting Associate Director, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Mohammed Jiya, urged BDCs to always file their returns on time, and even where there are no transactions to report, they can file Nil report.

He said the agency needs the data from BDCs returns to know what is happening in the sector and take decisions that would favour the economy.

“The guideline clearly states that every BDC shall have an AML/CFT policy in compliance with AML/CFT Act 2011 for, amongst others, identification of customers using relevant means before carrying out a transaction or establishing a business relationship,” he said.

He said Compliance Officers are to ensure that there is a compliance programme, prepare suspicious transaction report and render returns on same to the NFIU and where there are no such transactions, a “Nil Return” shall be rendered monthly.

“All Licensed/Registered BDCs operating in the country are expected to register on goAML and NIL Reporting Portal to enable them respectively render Statutory Returns (STRs, SARs, CTRs and AIF) or NIL Return when there is no report for a given period,” Jiya advised.

In its presentation, DataPro, said data Protection is about data Security. It ensures that personal data is safeguarded from unlawful access by unauthorised parties. The firm said BDCs that collect personal data have the responsibility of protecting it from unauthorised access.

Also, representatives of Other Financial Institutions Department of the CBN, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System, FATF Amon others called for vigilance on the part of BDCs to ensure they follow regulations by conducting customer due diligence on all their transactions.

More challenges against BDCs

Gwadabe said the BDCs suffer from low level formalisation of operations, whereby street traders are now competing for the forex market with CBN-licenced operators.

“The challenge of poor formalisation of BDCs operation makes us inefficient and difficult to fulfilling CBN’s mandate. We want the CBN to step in and formalise BDCs operations and make it difficult for street forex traders to operate,” he said.

Gwadabe said getting a BDC license costs around N40 million in Nigeria, when it costs only $5,000 to get same license in Kenya. Yet, both the public and regulators have continued to castigate Nigerian BDCs.

“We also appeal to the CBN to approve the ABCON Training Institute to provide more avenues for continues training of our members on current trends in illicit financial flows and anti-terrorist financing.”

“ABCON appeals to the CBN to issue Letter of Consent to our proposed training institute. This is going to boost the current ABCON Management commitment to capacity building of its members meant to stimulate competency in the sector,” he said.

He said there was no way over 6,000 people can be trained in one hall, making the need for training institute crucial to achieve the desired capacity building gains for the industry.

The country’s universities are increasing regularly, but experts are concerned about the quality of higher education on offer. FRANK IKPEFAN reports that it is believed that private varsities lay emphasis on profit.

On February 5, the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari approved twenty new private universities to operate in the country.

The president directed the National Universities Commission (NUC) to give them provisional licences to operate.

Minister of Education Adamu Adamu last week Thursday handed their certificates of operation to officials/ representatives of the universities at the NUC headquarters in Abuja.

It was the first time the government will be granting approval for that number of universities in the country.

But while the government argued that the move is a way of opening up the space and creating access to higher education, stakeholders, especially the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have raised concerns about the quality of education they will offer.

That concern has been re-echoed by Joint admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)Registrar Prof Is-haq Oloyede.

Prof Oloyede, while presenting a paper at a pre-mobilisation workshop for 2021 Batch A corps members organised by the National Youth Service Corps, accused some tertiary institutions of helping to mobilise illegal students for national service.

According to the registrar, most of the institutions given licences to operate should have no business in education because their sole focus is profit driven.

The registrar accused some of them of putting money ahead of offering quality education to the people. His position is also shared by ASUU President  Prof Biodun Ogunyemi.

Aside accusing some of the institutions operating in the country of being profit-driven without offering real service, the former Vice – Chancellor of the University of Illorin, also accused them of using their certificates to damage the integrity of the country.

In 2019,  NUC Executive Secretary Prof Abubakar Rasheed said Nigerians spent N500, 000 – N1m to purchase certificates, mostly from mushroom institutions, confirming Oloyede’s fears of institutions churning out certificates that are questionable.

Prof Oloyede said: “The degree mills, they are also participating. Unfortunately, we have so many institutions now being licensed to operate. Many of them have no business to be in education. All they want is money and they are just using the certificates they have to run these institutions to continue to damage the integrity of this country.

“It is possible, and you can go and try it; you can get many institutions in this country without going to secondary school or going to anywhere they can register you and place you on 400L and you will graduate next year when you pay the appropriate money; it is certain.

“It is something I have seen and I have tested and if you challenge me, I will say please let us get it done now. I have tried it and I have seen that is is working.

“I know of a polytechnic that I don’t, in JAMB, take their certificate. If you like go to anywhere I will not take their certificate because here I have two or three persons who are working with me, who never left (work) anytime and suddenly came back with certificate of your colleague.

“I have experience to say many of them but what people don’t realise is that no organisation is too big to be destroyed. There is no organisation that is too big to be destroyed.

“What is happening now is that the institutions are contributing and the degree mills too. The certificates are fraud.”

Ogunyemi wondered why the government continues to create new universities when the existing ones are not viable.

He said: “ASUU has always argued against the proliferation of universities – whether private or public. When it comes to private universities, the primary motive is not quality. The primary motive is essentially about profit.

“Most of the private universities that we have at the moment are charging fees that are not affordable to the majority of admission seekers and that is responsible for why up till date they cannot boast of more than five per cent of student population in Nigerian universities.

“If that is the situation, we need to ask why we continue to create new ones when the existing ones are not viable. When you visit those universities, all they have to show mostly are structures. They use the structures to deceive people. Structures do not make universities. What makes universities, primarily, is the quality of teaching and research and the caliber of personnel, particularly academics in those universities should determine whether we have a university or a glorified secondary school.

“The structures that you have in many of these universities are deceptive and you will find out that some of these universities as we speak today have less than twenty per cent of their capacity in terms of their facilities – hostels, lecture rooms and others. But when you look from afar, you cannot see through them and so they deceive people.

“Unfortunately, those who continue to invest in private universities give us the impression that more Nigerians will be admitted and that they are providing the facilities to expend admission spaces in our tertiary institutions, particularly in our universities.

“However, it has turned out not to be correct because the question of affordability is never taken into account. Affordability is a different question as against availability. Before the licencing of twenty new private universities there were 79, today there are 99 private universities. But you can imagine 99 private universities accounting for five per cent of student population. Whereas, the remaining 93 public universities have over 90 per cent of the students.

“We always ask government: where should the attention go? Do we continue to say private university is the solution when two third of Nigerians cannot afford the cost of private education because they can barely feed? ”

The university don also faulted the NUC – the regulatory body of universities in the country.

According to him, if the commission applies strict measures, many of the existing private universities in the country would not be in operation.

“Our concern has always been that government is not sincere with Nigerians. If the criteria were stringently adhered to, if we keep strictly to the guidelines, many of these private universities would not have been licensed.

“At the end of the day, private universities, more often than not, do compromise academic standard. But because they have been licensed; probably they will have a window of five years to manipulate things and while that is happening, existing public universities will continue to suffer because their academic staff members will now be enrolled into private universities.

“The establishment of private universities on the whole has not really brought a significant improvement we want to see in university education in Nigeria. I must admit that one or two are struggling or I can say have broken even. What percentage is that? If you have 99 (private universities) and you can only point to two or three, then this calls for concern,” Ogunyemi added.

However, Adamu at the function last week appeared to disagree with those against licensing of new universities.

The minister said the existing 193 universities operating in the country were not enough to take care of the growing need for tertiary education in the country.

The minister said: “Government is also well aware that countries that are consistently well-ranked in Human Development indices have, in recognition of the important role of universities in human capital development, maintaining a respectable number of universities relative to their population.

“In relation to Nigeria’s population of over 200 million, the current 193 universities is quite low when compared to those of other economies such as Brazil (209 million) 441 universities, Mexico (126 million) 375 universities, Russia (1445 million) 741 universities.

“Despite the steady progress being made in this area of our national development, a random poll of the public opinion reveals some concern that the private universities had become too many. Comparative figures of universities in other countries attest to the fact that this is not the case.

“It is the collaborative efforts of the private individuals and group that made this possible for these nations and I believe will also enable Nigeria to close her own gap in the university education sub-sector.

“The above scenario indicates that Nigeria needs more universities. We shall therefore continue to encourage NUC to keep strengthening its quality assurance mechanism so that as the number increases, quality and relevance to national needs are not compromised.

“In 2019, the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) announced that out of over 1.8 million candidates registered for the UTME, only 612,000 were admitted in Nigerian universities representing 34 per cent.

“This shows gross inadequacy in terms of access. Private universities have contributed to the opening up of admission space for the swelling population of candidates seeking university education.

“The growth of private universities in Nigeria has created an environment for healthy competition that stimulates improvement in quality service delivery in the system.

“The African Centres of Excellence Impact project has 44 universities from West and Central Africa, including seventeen centres in fourteen universities from Nigeria. Covenant University and Redeemers University both private universities are among the 14 universities participating in Nigeria.

“The provisional approval for these 20 universities to operate is intended to create room for effective mentoring and qualitative growth within the first three years of operation.”…says menace hampering economic development

The rising incidents of kidnapping on Nigerian roads is endangering the lives of young professionals in the country, a kidnap victim has said.

The victim, a young professional, who begged not to be named, said the development is making the prospect of emigrating to other countries more attractive than before.

The victim, who relieved his ordeal said the security situation has degenerated into a demographic profiling by kidnappers, who lay siege on Nigerian roads to identify young professionals and separate them from other victims.

He said young professionals may be facing extinction if nothing is done about the situation.

The victim, who works with a top commercial bank in the country, said government’s inability to curb kidnapping and other violent crimes is hampering socio-economic development efforts in the country.

“There is no gainsaying the fact that the menace of kidnapping is threatening development efforts in Nigeria, especially in the rural communities. When it all started, the high and mighty in the society were always the prime target. But in recent times, the tide has changed as all manner of persons are now at risk of being kidnapped.

“The nation’s high way are no longer safe as professionals are the most hit. The incident of January 2, 2021 along the Enugu–Port Harcourt Road when I was kidnapped in a commando style readily comes to mind. One Chinedu Zephaniah was also a victim of such kidnap on August 14, 2020”, he said.

According to him, many such committed professionals who execute assignments around the rural areas believe that if nothing is done fast, their peers will no longer be interested in risking their lives and traveling to the hinterland of the country participating in development efforts of the government.

He said, “Reports of both ordeals of August 14, 2020 and January 2, 2021 from several news sources paint a picture of a Nazi camp of the World War 2 era. Military styled ambush of moving vehicles, abduction of the driver and other occupants of the vehicle  by four men who emerged from the nearby bush. Sporadic shootings on the vehicle etc.

“One of the kidnapped victims narrated his ordeal as ‘when we stepped into the forest, there were another four masked men, all in black. A total of eight kidnappers; five with AK 47, two with short guns and another two with cutlasses pruning trees as we all ran in a single file through farmlands initially and then into a thick forest.

“After 30 minutes of running, they stopped and allowed the three of us abducted to catch our breath for a few minutes, then we took off now walking briskly on narrow tracks. We were instructed to only step on grass through the tracks to avoid leaving our footprints on the sand. At about 7pm we stopped again to rest for about an hour before setting out for another four hours to the thickest part of the forest where we all slept till the next day. We were all beaten mercilessly. I had injuries. It was a walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Recall that similar experiences abound of kidnapping especially along the major highways in the country. The Kaduna–Abuja road, the Okene–Lokoja–Abuja road among others which have become so notorious in recent years.

The victim further noted that travelers on the road also recount tales of woes especially during the Christmas holiday.

He said one of such travelers, who had a near encounter with kidnappers on December 26, recalled saying: “While traveling from Abuja to Okene, we came across stranded families. We saw wife and children along the road whose father had just been kidnapped. We also saw soldiers chasing the kidnappers into the bush. We were lucky to have escaped them”.

“But in Kaduna State, the Chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and his wife were not that lucky as the kidnappers stormed their house and took them away. An unidentified man in Ihiala, Imo state was gruesomely murdered by unknown persons. Across the land, the story has been the same, compounding the security challenges in the country. Development experts believe that if the government fail to taken concrete steps to address the menace, the impact on the Nigerian economy will be devastating”, the victim further warned.

By Innocent Duru; Bisi Olaniyi, Benin; Chris Njoku, Owerri and Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

• Ex-DSS director says arms in circulation far in excess of the 6m given by Abdulsalami

• 3837 criminals illegally set free in five months

Nigerians will have to brace up for tougher security challenges across the country in the months ahead, experts have warned in the wake of the latest attacks on correctional centres and the proliferation of arms across the country, Correspondents INNOCENT DURU, BISI OLANIYI, CHRIS NJOKU and GBENGA OMOKHUNU report.

Just when many Nigerians thought the worst threat to the nation’s security in recent times was over with the cessation of the #ENDSARS protests last October, some events in the last few weeks seem to suggest that the situation is not about to improve yet.

Kidnapping, armed robbery, and other forms of banditry have escalated, culminating in the April 5, 2021 attack on the Owerri Correctional Centre by yet to be identified gunmen.

The hoodlums not only set free 1880 inmates of the centre, they set the building and several cars on the premises ablaze.

They had apparently taken their cue from the invasion of the Benin Correctional Centre in the thick of the #ENDSARS protests during which 1957 inmates were let loose.

A similar attack on the Ikoyi Correctional Centre in Lagos was resisted by security forces.

Most of the freed inmates are hardened criminals. Some have returned to what they know how to do well: crime.

Within 48 hours of the attack on the Owerri Correctional Centre, three divisional police stations in the state were attacked leading to the escape of more suspects and disappearance of arms and ammunitions.

Also within 72 hours, a traditional ruler of Umuezie community in Nguru Aboh Mbaise council area of the state, Eze Charles Iroegbu and his entire cabinet  were abducted on their way home from a traditional wedding ceremony.

This development is creating palpable fear in the state particularly in the communities where the prisoners hail from.

As at yesterday, only 90 out of a total of 1881 inmates of the correction centre were in lawful custody, according to the spokesman of the Correctional Service Centre, James Madugba.

He explained that 35 did not escape on Monday, while seven came back voluntarily.

Madugba confirmed that “the escapees committed various offences such as kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, stealing. You know in prisons there is no offence that they don’t commit.”

Most of those who escaped from the Benin Correctional Centre are believed to be still in the state, terrorizing innocent residents following their return to kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism and other criminal activities.

It could not have been coincidental that Benin and environs have recorded an increase in crime rate after the jail break.

The Benin-Ekpoma-Auchi-Abuja road has turned into the den of kidnappers, with victims often killed, raped and maimed, while huge ransoms are also regularly collected from the relatives of the victims.

Terrorists are on the rampage in the Northwest, kidnapping people for ransom and rustling cattle at will.

Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State, which is the hardest hit state in that part of the country, puts the figure of bandits terrorizing the state and environs at 30000.

Boko Haram remains a serious threat in the Northeast.

Even the Southwest and the Southsouth are having their own share of banditry.

Bandits, masquerading as herders, are still in business in parts of the Southwest, in spite of the formation of the regional security outfit, Amotekun, to stem criminality.

Inter- state travels have become a nightmare for drivers and commuters alike as bandits freely take over the roads, looking for who to kidnap.

Then, came a bombshell last Wednesday from former military ruler General Abdulsalami Abubakar that about 6million arms are in circulation across the country.

Abubakar is the chairman, National Peace Committee (NPC).

According to him, the challenges facing Nigeria are not only security in the narrow sense of the military definition but that they have assumed an all-encompassing nature.

He listed such   challenges to include the Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, rising poverty; calls for balkanisation of the country from different quarters; threat of hunger arising from insecurity that farmers have faced and continue to face, increasing sense of collective despair and despondency among the populace.

“The proliferation of all caliber of weapons not only in our sub-region in general and in Nigeria in particular is worrying. It is estimated that there are over 6 million of such weapons in circulation in the country. This certainly exacerbated the insecurity that led to over 80,000 deaths and close to 3 million IDPs.”

But a retired director of the Department of State Security (DSS), Mr.Dennis Amachree, says the 6million figure given by Abubakar may be an understatement.

He estimates that 80million illegal weapons are in circulation in West Africa with 70 percent (56million) of them in Nigeria alone.

“We carried out our research two years ago and what we got is far more than what the former head of state said,”Amachree told The Nation.

“I know it is an estimate but the number of small arms and light weapons circulating in West Africa is more than 80 million and about 70 percent of that is in Nigeria. We cannot get the exact figure but let us just say that there are just too many small arms and light weapons in the hands of non- state actors circulating in Nigeria and it is a big threat. Because of all the empty borders and all the other areas that arms are coming into Nigeria, our country is put in a very bad situation.”

Asked how the weapons can be mopped up from the wrong hands, Amachree said: “There are many ways that arms can be mopped out of circulation. You can either do money for arms.  Many countries have done that but the way it is right now, a lot of people would not prefer to give up their arms because of the general insecurity in the country.  They would prefer to keep their arms to protect themselves. It is a situation where the government might want to ensure that internal security is guaranteed. If it is guaranteed people will not need their arms.”

He decried the spate of attacks on correctional facilities, warning that there may be more of such as in future.

“I think we will have more jailbreaks because the correctional centres are not well secured because security is almost non-existent. By that I mean that all the barriers that are supposed to protect the prisons are not there. Most of the prisons are in town and where people live instead of being in isolated areas such that when somebody wants to come and attack, you should be able to know and prepare for such a person.

“As long as they are existing in the middle of towns, of course jailbreaks are going to be very, very common.  Many prisons have been broken into and I think it is becoming a trend.  The prison authorities should start thinking about whether they want to relocate them out of town and using the proper crime prevention method in building those prisons or they will be open to attacks all the time,” Amachree, the former DSS boss said.

Expatiating on the implications of jail break for the society, he said: “Anytime a prisoner escapes from prison, he goes back into crime. Nigerian prisons are not designed to be correctional. We just changed the name but we didn’t change the process. Correctional means that the people who have been locked in are trained to acquire a skill that they will after leaving prison use to survive.

“In Nigeria the prisoners are locked up like animals. It is just like locking up an animal in a cage or zoo. When you release it, it will run out, jumping all over the place and going into the society and wreaking havoc.  When these militants come out, they can go and join other militant groups, bandits, or look for the families or judges that sent them to jail.  They are a threat to the society and this is another new threat area that is facing the country.  The jails are either fortified or it would cause a lot of problems for us in future.”

Akinyemi: Arms are flooding into Nigeria as if it’s a war zone

Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, is no less worried by the proliferation of arms in Nigeria.

“Arms are flooding into Nigeria as if Nigeria is a war zone. Maybe, it is going to be a war zone; maybe they are telling us things that are going to come,” Akinyemi said on Arise Television.

He recalled the report of a committee set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan to work on the problem some years back.

He said: “I don’t know if it was a task force or just a task committee on this same issue and like everything else, they classified the report but it wasn’t made known to the public because I was a member of what I call the Boko Haram committee.

“We got hold of a copy of the result and maybe it’s because of the content was frightening. Arms are flooding into Nigeria as if Nigeria is a war zone. Maybe, it is going to be a war zone; maybe they are telling us things that are going to come.

“The moment Ghaddafi got destabilized and you would say it wasn’t Ghaddafi just Libya but you see, at that time Libya was Ghaddafi and Ghaddafi was Libya but the moment he got destabilized, the arms depots were looted and those arms just came down south and Nigeria at that time with Boko Haram flexing its muscle was regarded as a rightful platform for which the arms could find usage.

“They did a risk analysis of the problems of Nigeria and they knew that we were not headed for a wedding ceremony, that we were headed for a turbulent future in this country. There was money available to different groups who had been funded by people with money.

“I mean to procure the arms and that’s why those arms found a respectable acceptance you in Nigeria. And you have seen the evidence of that, how useful that calculation was to them, not to us because from the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East, you now have herdsmen or bandits or whatever you call them all over Nigeria and those arms are still flooding in.

“Now the question you ask is what are we doing about it and I dare say I’m not in the business of running down governance or running down anybody. We are doing nothing about it. We still have an underpaid army.

“There’s a United Nations report on the strength of that, but they restricted it to the police only. Again, we came across this in one of the task forces I served that instead of the 345,000 plus policemen that we have, Nigeria actually needs over one million policemen in Nigeria. We are nowhere near that and I keep asking myself, there are educated people who have no jobs who will gladly become policemen; what is the problem about increasing the number of policemen in Nigeria from maybe 345,000 to 445,000 to 545,000 every year until we meet that united nations target? But we are not doing that.”

It portends danger for us, says Bala Husaini

A university lecturer, Dr Bala Husaini, says the wide circulation of illegal arms portends great danger for the country.

Adducing reasons for the proleferation of arms,Husaini said: “We have three issues here and they include the issue of secession, issue of regionalism, tribalism and ethnicity and three, the issue of kidnapping, banditry and armed robbery.  And for all of these, weapons have to be going round people’s hands for them to protect their interest.

“We should also be mindful of mercenaries. There are certain categories of people that are supplying information and weapons to their people which is also very dangerous to a country like Nigeria.

“Mostly this is in preparation for 2023.  The Igbo are saying that they should be given the opportunity to be president in 2023, the Yoruba are saying that they should be given their country and the Hausa-Fulani are saying that 2023 should not be based on religion or ethnicity.  These are some of the issues, and they are going to be making people take the law into their hands.   This is very dangerous for our dear nation

“Since government has failed to protect the lives and property of citizens, it feels legal for people to attack whoever they want.  If the government protects the lives and property of the citizens I see no reason why people should carry guns and ammunition.

“There are some parts of the country where guns are sold in the open the way second hand clothes are sold in Jos.  This is improper. I don’t think we are heading where we are supposed to be heading. The earlier the community and the government come together to see the tendency of addressing it once and for all, the better for all of us. I will be safe, you will be safe and they will also be safe. If guns continue to remain in everybody’s hands, we are really not safe.”

Like Amachree, Hasaini  fears there may be more of attacks on correctional centres especially in some of the strategic prisons in the country.

“There are some prisons that are very strategically located meant for certain categories of people. The criminals have information about them mostly from within. Criminals always have information about where their members are detained. Wherever you see prison break, it is certainly heading to something else,” he said.

“You can’t tell me that these people that were released in Imo are mere armed robbers, or victims. An eyewitness said the hoodlums spent more than 30 minutes exchanging fire with the police. If you are not ready, you can’t just face conventional people like that. Only God knows our fate now.”

We’re fortifying security at correctional centres, says NCS

However, the authorities of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) say they are doing everything possible to fortify security at their facilities across the country.

Sophisticated weapons, Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) and others have been acquired to prevent further attacks, the Public Relations Officers (PRO), Francis Enobore, told The Nation.

Enobore said the service is working with other security agencies to prevent attacks on correctional facilities.

He said the service is currently facing the issue of encroachment, which is hindering security operatives from protecting some correctional centers.

His words: “We have means of generating intelligence and also preventing crisis within or outside. We are increasing our collaboration with other sister security organizations across the country. They are increasing their personnel on ground for us. We have been able to reach out to heads of other security organizations and they have responded favorably.

“They have also provided Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) and some other sophisticated weapons that can help us to fortify correctional facilities.

“For intelligence gathering, the services involved have also been forthcoming. We are increasing our reach and collaboration to ensure that these incidents do not occur again.

“Some of these facilities that have been attacked, they are located in areas that are now surrounded by private developers. These correctional facilities are supposed to have what we call buffer areas. And the buffer area is not supposed to be less than 200 meters round the correctional facilities.

“Within these areas we now have observation cars in strategic locations where you can watch from afar anyone that has negative intentions. As it is now private developers have taken over all this space. You can literally scratch the walls of some of our correctional facilities and you will enter another person’s compound. And where you have such it becomes extremely difficult to have the space to engage an intruder.

“We have been begging those that have built illegal buildings all over the place, and if you talk to them they run to court to get injunction, when the hard times comes, they may end up taking the bullet.

“So, these are avenues that we are employing to ensure that this crisis does not happen again and we have plans to relocate these facilities to a more conducive environment.”

In November, while counting the costs of the #ENDSARS protests, Information Minister Lai Mohammed had said eight prisons were attacked, “with 1,957 inmates set free and 31 staff injured.”

“Six soldiers and 37 policemen were killed all over the country during the crisis,” he said.

“This is in addition to 196 policemen that were injured; 164 police vehicles that were destroyed and 134 police stations that were razed.

“Also, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Nigeria Customs Service and Nigeria Immigration Service all lost infrastructures, equipment and other valuables to attack by hoodlums during the crisis.”

The violence also left 57 civilians dead, 269private/corporate facilities burnt/looted/vandalized, 243 government facilities burnt/vandalized and 81 government warehouses looted.

Five months after, the security challenge remains tough.