Tag: anti-terror

Oladimeji Odeyemi is the President of the National Committee of Yoruba Youths. He spoke with reporters in Lagos on the war against terror and other issues. Excerpts:

You recently led a team of your officials to a meeting with the Yoruba community in Maiduguri. What  your assessment of the security situation in that axis?

Let me first state that our trip to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, was on the invitation of our kinsmen in that city, who have been following our activities as a result of our various interventions and advocacy on the effort of the Nigerian Military in the war against insurgency and the need for normalcy to return to that part of the country. We are glad that we made the trip, going by the warm reception we got, most especially from the Yoruba community, and our ability, to observe that truly, peace have returned to Maiduguri, which was once, a center of the activities of the now decimated Boko Haram insurgents. Businesses are now re-opened, people now go about their daily activities and we are proud to have taken the opportunity, to also visit neighborhood markets which were once deserted by the people. In fact as a people, we should be indebted to the Nigerian Army for this noble feat.

Could it be said that normalcy has truly returned to the Northeast?

Without sounding immodest, I think I may be constrained to encourage groups and individuals, particularly the media, to visit Borno State so that they can have a first-hand assessment of how Nigerian Army under the leadership of General Tukur Buratai has been able to restore normalcy to this otherwise troubled, environment. Let me remind you that only recently, one of the major political figures in Nigeria, who incidentally is also a fellow Yoruba, visited the State, and had the cause to do on-the-spot assessment of projects and even commission several projects, that has been embarked upon by the government of Borno State. Also recall, that the Borno State Government recently declared every December 22nd, starting from this year, as a public holiday in the state, in acknowledgement of the victory over Boko Haram, with the capture of the once dreaded Sambisa forest, by the gallant Nigerian Soldiers.

The Nigerian Army recently held a Small Arms Championship in the famous Sambisa Forest. what’s your take on it?

Firstly, we must commend the leadership of the Nigerian Army, under the leadership of General Buratai, for the innovations, and reinvigoration of the Military operations in the North East. The successful conduct of the Small Arms Championship by the Nigerian Army in Sambisa forest, is a testimony of the perseverance, resilience, and patriotism of the Nigerian Army, in protecting the territorial integrity, of Nigeria, such that no part of our land, will be occupied by these dissidents and notorious elements. This competition itself has showcased the armory, the manpower, expertise and professionalism of the Nigerian Army. This has also laid credence, to the popular saying, that the Nigerian Army, is the pride of the Black race.

The Nigerian Army has been accused by the Amnesty International of violation of right. what is your take on the conduct of the Nigerian Army, as regards respect for human rights, during their operations?

As you can see, a lot of patriot and Nationalists, have factually faulted the clearly sentimental report of Amnesty International, against the Nigerian Army. While one may sympathize with a lot of those groups, we must sincerely acknowledge that the Nigerian Army under the current leadership has taken the issues of human rights, civil engagement and discipline of errant officers as a priority. We are all witnesses, to how the Army has in recent times, dealt decisively with her men that have been reported to have molested or abuse, the right of citizens, in various parts of the country. This is unprecedented and I strongly believe that as Nigerians, we must acknowledge this and commend the courage and forthrightness of the Nigerian Army leadership.

There are insinuations in some quarters that the Army authorities was behind the picketing of the Abuja Office of the Amnesty International….

As someone, who is actively involved in the Civil Society struggles and as a keen follower of the activities of the Nigerian Military, particularly the Army, I will say, that it is unfair and inaccurate to subscribe, to the devious notion, that the leadership of the Nigerian Army, will stoop so low, to sponsor protests, against an organization like Amnesty International. Let me remind you, that when there was a controversy arising from certain misrepresentation of the character of the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai, by an online magazine, He and the Army, did not resort to self-help. The current Army leadership from our observation as a group believes so must in constructive engagements and democratic approach to issues, rather than getting involved in such charades, as witnessed in the picketing of the Abuja Office of Amnesty International Nigeria, by those protesters. Anyway, I will want us to see this, as part of the scripts, by those elements, who are desperately out, to discredit the Nigerian Army and its Leadership.

With the renewed threat of attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents, what do you think the government needs to do to curtail this?

I beg to differ a little from your assumption that there are renewed attacks by the Boko Haram elements. What we are witnessing, as it can be observed globally wherever that are incidences of insurgency, are cased of isolated attacks, which is a major sign of the last hours desperations of a defeated group, such as Boko Haram. My opinion is that it requires our collective effort as Nigerians, to join hands with the various security agencies, in order to expose and route out the remnants of the Boko Haram and their collaborators, from our various communities, particularly in the North East.

How in your opinion, can the populace, collaborate with the Nigerian Army and other security agencies, to minimise the activities of Boko Haram, and other separatist organizations,  currently operating in the country?

Trust is the key issues here. We as the people of Nigeria, must trust the Nigerian Army, and other security agencies, with useful and sensitive information, that can assist in their operations. We must also shun all forms of negative news, that can be of distraction to the Nigerian Army and its leadership. Most importantly, we must always appreciate and salute the gallantry of our men that have abandoned the comfort of their homes, in order for us as Nigerians to have a peaceful and united society. Also, the media, should see themselves as equal partners in nation building, rather than dwelling on issues, that can distract the focus of our security agencies.

A lot is being achieved and I can attest to this, from the point of our last visit to Maiduguri, it is our hope that the federal government will further empower the Military to ensure that this victory is not only sustained, but that we can also return our country completely to what it was before the insurgency era.

Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed spoke with reporters in Lagos on the focus of the Buhari Administration in the new year, the anti-terror war, anti-graft battle and other issues. EMMANUEL OLADESU was there.

Is the country actually winning the anti-terror war?

For anybody to know and appreciate what the military has done, you need to cast your mind back to this time last year when 20 out of the 27 local governments in Borno State were in firm control of Boko Haram; when six local governments in Yobe State and four local governments in Adamawa State were in their control to today, where you probably have about one or two local governments where they are still trying to operate from. That would give you an idea as to what the military has achieved in the last couple of months. So, when we say that the Boko Haram has been largely defeated, we are actually vindicated by the fact that even what happened during Christmas, is kind of things you expect from any insurgency because they know that they are on their way out. The army have been able to decimate and decapitate them to a large capacity to launch the kind of rendezvous attacks they used to launch before. I must also use this opportunity to thank immensely the vigilantes; the Civilian Joint Tasks Force.  But for them, we would have had more casualties than we have today. They have been working round the clock, even in the Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) centres to identify Boko Haram insurgents.

Boko Haram insurgency like any other insurgency is not a conventional war. We are not saying that by December 31, there would be no more attacks or there would be no more bombs or suicides. We are not saying that.  That is the nature of insurgency. Look at what happened in France last month. France has no insurgency, yet the terrorists were able to embarrass the entire French security systems or take Colombia, where insurgency was expected to have ended many years ago, yet they still stage attacks or even the United States.  What we are saying is that, the military has succeeded largely in meeting the deadline of December 31. The military have done their bit; it is for us, civilians to assist them. What the military are doing now is to barely mop up the humanitarian body of Boko Haram. And this is why we appeal to all media, especially the independent broadcasting organisations to please follow the steps of the NTA that has been helping in airing our jingles on how to identify suicide bombers, explosive bombs and to avoid certain places. If they join us, we can go long way. FRCN, Voice of Nigeria, NAN and NTA have taken up the gullet and I have been assured that by the next meeting I am going to have with the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, they would be able assist us also. So, really it is for us in Nigeria today as civilians, to also own the war and supply the missing link. The biggest problem we have now about Boko Haram is not dislodging them; we have actually succeeded in that. It is how do we rehabilitate and resettle the millions of Nigerians who have been displaced? It is how do we revive the economy of the North-East that had been shattered by Boko Haram? It is how do we ensure that the effect of five-six years of Boko Haram insurgency does not resort in famine? Because when you have the kind of the insurgency we have, farmers cannot go to their farms. And if you known what Borno State represents in the agricultural landscape of Nigeria, you will see that that should be our major focus now.

Some people are of the view that there was no need for the deadline on the insurgency…

In any war or conflict, government must give a deadline. That deadline was given as a result of the assurance given by the military and the success of the military. It is a common thing; even during the Nigeria Civil War, we were given a timeframe that the war will end by a particular time. I think it is a natural thing and there is nothing wrong to say that by end of December there is going to be an end to insurgency. And like I said, we have largely succeeded in meeting that deadline. We cannot have insurgency forever and no serious government will stay and say because there is insurgency and it is not a regular one; therefore there is not going to be any deadline.

What is the government doing to purge himself of the Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky issue because there are information that the Shiite Islamic Movement has elements in the hierarchy of government and even in the military?  

There is a lot of rumour everywhere but what I can assure you that the government of this administration would respect religious freedom but this administration at the same time would not allow any group or body to hold it hostage. What is important to us is the freedom of every Nigerian to practices his or her faith within the confines of the law. You cannot in the practice of your faith inconvenience another Nigerian. And I think this is the bottom line for us in this government. We are going to respect religious freedom but it must not be at the expense of the right and freedom of other Nigerians.

Some economists have said that 2016 would be a tough year for Nigerians. What is your opinion?

I will say tell them that they should persevere. They should trust this government and this government is also very aware of the top predictions. But, because the government is determined to stop leakages, fight corruption and to also diversify the economy, that would definitely soften what otherwise should have been very hard to Nigerians. They should just continue to trust this government.

What is the Federal Government planning to do about the abandoned national monuments, including the National Theatre?

the National Theatre is a national monument and a tourist attraction and we will not allow it to go derelict, neither will we allow it to become a magnet for hoodlums. The monument is the pride of the entire nation. It is one of the most iconic buildings we have and for a long time, it also served as the point of convergence to Nigerians during festivities or public holidays. And that is why we sincerely regret the unfortunate incident on Christmas Day, when some fun seekers were molested by some hoodlums. I want to assure you that all efforts would be taken to ensure that there is not a reoccurrence of that kind of incident. We have held meetings with both representatives of police command in Lagos State and the Department of State Services and we have held several meetings. We know where our challenges are. Primarily, our perimeter is very unsafe because it is quite long and it is in the middle of town. We know what the challenges are but we assure you that we will not again allow that kind of thing to reoccur. We say clearly that that kind of behaviour is unacceptable.

The National Theatre is not just an iconic building; it is also a veritable vehicle for the promotion of arts and the creative industry. We have gone round the various components of the National Theatre; we have seen what efforts have been made in the last few years to renovate and bring to date the facilities in the complex. We also know the challenges we face because we begin to wonder why with our location, facilities and structures; why we should not be the first point of call for anybody who want to exhibit his arts or who want to premier his films or why this place cannot come back and become the centre of activities for all creative industries. We have discussed with management of National Theatre and we are also going to reach out to the major stakeholders in the industry and see how we can make the National Theatre really the hub of the creative industry in Nigeria. We have the location, facilities and we believe that there should be no other better alternative to us, but we also know what the challenges are. There are issues of security, power and perception and these are the issues we are going to address.

In line with the administration’s resolve to move away our addiction to oil as the only source of revenue, we will look at the creative industry as another veritable vehicle for creating jobs for our youths. We are going to revive the craft centres in the National Theatre. We plan to have an auction centre in National Theatre, where people will come from all over the world to come and bid for our arts. As of today, we have to go to Senegal, United Kingdom to exhibit some our arts, even though they are one of the best in the world. So, we want to assure Nigerians that we will leverage on the unique power of culture and tourism to create more jobs for Nigerians. As you are already aware, we have reached out to all the states and arts councils in every state to give us 10 cities with their crafts, arts and festivals, so that by the end of the day we are going to have about 365 festivals including the five local governments in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja. The idea is to ensure that we have at least one festival a day in Nigeria. It might be in Arungungun, Osun, Calabar; so that we will have a compendium of our festivals and arts. So, that any tourist coming to Nigeria can go to our website and know the city he can visit in a particular day or month. This is also going to open our economy in a way it used to be before.

Is the National Theatre generating enough funds for government?

The issue of the internal generated revenue of the National Theatre is a moot point in the sense that whatever is being generated is paid directly back to government in respect to the TSA. We know what we do generate. It is not substantial enough and this is because we have not been able to put our major facilities in a state that would make it able to attract enough patronage. For instance, we have the main bowl, which can accommodate about 5,000 people but we have challenges. The National Theatre structure is almost 40 years old; it would be 40 years old in two years time. We have been battling with the maintenance and replacement of certain infrastructures. It is only when we are able to restore fully the main bowl and other exhibition halls that we will be able to full-fledge go out to market the National Theatre. We also have to address the issue of security. One thing any tourist wants is peace of mind and security. I think we have paid very little attention to security. So, don’t look at the National Assembly just from the point view of a complex. Look at it from what it means to Nigeria. It is a national monument. It is iconic and I think it deserves more security presence than many other buildings and this is what we are going to work at.

Is Federal Government planning to privatise the National Theatre?

I can assure you that National Theatre will always remain a national monument. We are not selling the National Theatre. I can assure you that. However, we are not averse to a Private-Public Partnership (PPP) arrangement with anybody that wants to develop around the National Theatre. We are not averse to those who want to add value to the complex. I have just been informed by the General Manager of the National Theatre that a couple of years ago the Federal Government did advertise and we are at the process of selecting successive bidders but clearly the National Theatre will always remains in the hands of government.