The Nation Newspaper

Tag: insurgency

  • Govt to launch security campaign against insurgency — Minister

    Govt to launch security campaign against insurgency — Minister

    A national security campaign by the Federal Government  got underway yesterday to counter insurgency across the nation, especially in the North-east.

    Information and Culture Minister  Lai Mohammed  kick-started the process with a meeting with representatives of relevant agencies in Abuja.

    The first step is  to design a national communication strategy for the campaign, which aims to sensitize Nigerians on their role in the fight against insurgency, with a view to ensuring that they support and also own the war.

    Addressing the meeting, Alhaji Mohammed said while the military has availed itself creditably in the war, which it is now winning, the civilian component is missing which, he said, is critical for the war to be won.

    ”The military may be doing its best, but it cannot win the war alone. No insurgency has ever been won only by military prowess.

    ”Apart from that, it is important to sensitize Nigerians on IEDs – Improvised Explosive Devices, how to recognize one and what to do if they find such. Nigerians must also be made aware of the new tactics of the insurgents, which is to focus on soft targets, like motor parks, entertainment centres, religious houses and so on.

    ”Having been routed from their strongholds in the North-east, the terrorists have resorted to carrying out cowardly attacks. But these people operate among us. The challenge, therefore, is to fish them out before they strike us. How do we recognize them? How do we keep Nigerians safe,whether at the motor park, in schools, hospitals, hotels or even on the road?” the minister queried.

    He said the campaign would not be limited to the North-east alone but will extend to any part of the country where there are agitations for one reason or another.

    The minister said as many stakeholders as possible must be involved in the security campaign, listing religious leaders, traditional rulers, market women, road transport workers and opinion leaders among them.

    Alhaji Mohammed specifically charged religious leaders to tone down their rhetoric in churches and mosques in order not to fan the embers of hatred and violence in their preaching.

    ”In order to keep Nigerians fully informed and involved, it is important that we design a communication strategy that will be very effective in helping us to achieve that objective,” he said.

    The meeting was attended by representatives of the National Security Adviser, the military, the State Security Service, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the media, the Customs Service, Police, National Security and Civil Defence Corps, Immigration Service, National Emergency Management Agency, National Union of Road Transport Workers as well as National Union of Local Government Employees.

  • ‘50 million Nigerians affected by insurgency’

    ‘50 million Nigerians affected by insurgency’

    FIFTY million Nigerians are affected by insurgency, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said yesterday.

    He noted that the proportion of the citizens directly or indirectly affected were all over the country and not just the over two million Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in the Northeast.

    Adewole added that more people were affected from fears generated by Boko Haram.

    The minister spoke yesterday in Abuja at a special meeting on humanitarian programmes in the Northeast organised by the United Nations Funds for Population Activities (UNFPA) in collaboration with his ministry.

    He described his ministry’s new slogan as “every life and death counts in the country”.

    The minister said he had met with the country’s chief medical directors and asked them to report to him monthly on the number of deaths that occurred.

    His words: “If we fail to address the challenges of the Northeast, the consequence on the entire nation will be drastic.

    “We are only looking at the tip of the iceberg by talking of two million internally displaced, of which 1.9 million are found in Adamawa, Borno, Gombe and Adamawa. But the proportions of Nigerians affected could be 50 million directly and indirectly because, even the people in Lagos and Ogun are also affected by it.

    “There are fears and things are no longer the same; let us face the challenges to prevent it from snowballing”

    Adewole added: “There is a thin line between life and death. Our slogan is that every life will count in this country; but as every life counts, every death will also count. I met with the chief medical directors yesterday and I said that every death will be accounted for.

    “As we have counted life, we want to count death and prevent death. I told them that every month; they have to report back to us on the number of deaths that have occurred in the country.

    “The Northeast is an agenda that is a priority. Just as we dealt with Polio and Ebola, I am sure that with a committed leadership and organised initiative and funds being made available, we will also do well in the Northeast; we will put healthcare in the door steps of those who need it.

    “The Presidential initiative is to develop the health responds and provide leadership. What we want to see from this gathering is a submission that we can readily transcribe to the Presidential initiative so that we can address the challenges.

    “We are working with other sectors, be in the education or military, to ensure that we deliver health to the people.

    The minister said he was determined to reverse the usual practice in the ministry and its agencies.

    “We are working with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency; we want to deliver primary health care under one roof and engage state governments.

    “We will invest in them and want them to show responsibility; we want them to be accountable because nothing seriously is happening in this sector. You see people with malaria and eczema going to teaching hospitals, and that is not what the teaching hospitals are for. We need to address health care challenges at the primary healthcare level closer to the people.

    “What we are trying to do in the next couple of weeks is to organise a pot of money and then call our partners to see what we have and how we can partner with them; and in doing this, we will need to be responsible to the Nigerian people. As we spend money, we need to be accountable to the people. It is not enough to just write programmes, but to also write financial reports.”

     

  • Use e-surveillance to fight insurgency, Buhari urged

    Use e-surveillance to fight insurgency, Buhari urged

    The Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to deploy technology to tackle insecurity in the country, arguing that a simple technology such as the installation of close circuit television (CCTv) across the country could replace the necessity of thousands of soldiers.

    Its President, Mr Foluso Fasoto who spoke yesterday in Lagos during the board meeting of the group at the board room of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) said though the president has done well in addressing the issue, the deployment of technology to address the issue will have a far reaching effect.

    Mr Fasoto lamented that the contract for the installation of CCTv in Ahuja had gone moribund with nobody saying anything about it again to underscore how serious rulers take the issue of security of lives and property.

    He said: “We commend President Muhammadu Buhari for tackling the insecurity problem headlong. However, we would like to recommend more investment in the intelligence sector of our security. Let there be more of electronic security surveillance across the nation to replace some of the current human surveillance programmes. Never again should Nigerian Police as well as the military be subjected to financial temptation through inadequate reward and welfare package system.

    “We have experts in the NCS and other professionals in our group that are ready to partner with government to ensure the realisation of this objective.”

    He urged the Federal Government to come out with a clearly defined goal, aspiration and a roadmap and timeline to get there, adding that Singapore set a plan of where it will be in 1965 and pursued the goals ruthlessly. Today, he said Singapore has moved from being a third world country to a first world.

    He said: “It is no longer news that Nigerian economy rely mainly on oil. What is news is that despite the oil glut in the recent past, (year 2008 and earlier) there has not been appreciable breakthrough visible to ordinary Nigerians towards diversifying our economy. Our country is endowed with all the resources to be among the first world but for the effective and efficient management of these resources.

    “There is need for setting proper objective for Nigerian economy – Where do we want to be in say, 20 years’ time? Do we aspire to remain a developing country “until kingdom come?” or we hope to join the league of the first world in say, 15 years’ time?

    There is need for this objective to be well defined by the Federal Government and widely communicated to all citizens. This will eliminate policy somersault syndrome which avoidably usually afflict us in this country.”

  • DSS seeks collaboration on insurgency

    The Department of State Services, whose job it is to sniff out sources of threat to the nation, has expressed its desire to collaborate with the populace in the fight against terror.

    The Department organised a two-day workshop which featured heads of security agencies and sister organisations, religious bodies, traditional rulers, legislators, heads of government agencies and other stakeholders. About 1000 people attended the event on each of those days.

    Gombe State Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo said the workshop drove home the message that there is no room for complacency in the war against terror, even as the terrorists have been put on the back foot.

    Dankwambo, represented by his Deputy, Charles Iliya, said there is need for mutual trust between security agencies and the people in order towards sustain the prevailing peace in the state.

    He said there has been an influx of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state, and that the state has witnessed sporadic attacks by the insurgents.

    Initiator of the programme, the State Director of Security (SDS) Mr. Reuben Sina Amao said, “We must not be distracted; we must remain focused because despite successfully carrying out attacks in the past, security agents through collaborative efforts have been able to avert many other planned attacks in the state.”

    The state chief of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Yusuf Ganiyu Mumeen said it has spotted and deported over 600 foreign migrants whose stay suggested something inimical to the security of the state. Those deported were said to have lacked valid papers and had no credible proof of sources of livelihood.

    He also complained about the lack of street names and house numbers in Gombe which makes it difficult to trace addresses of applicants for international passports.

     

  • Why we closed Yobe markets – Army

    Why we closed Yobe markets – Army

    The Army in Damaturu, Yobe State has explained that the decision to close all weekly market activities across the state has led to blocking of logistics supply to Boko Haram terrorists in the bush and the arrest of some of their major logistics suppliers.

    The commander of 27 Task Force Brigade, Col. Dahiru Bako in Yobe State at a press briefing in Damaturu noted that serious progress has been recorded in the on-going operation against the insurgents.

    Col. Bako explained that “the massive onslaught has made the insurgents to be on the run everywhere. That is one area that we require the cooperation of the general public.

    “The insurgents are on the run and are now filtering into the communities. This is a very serious issue and we are appealing to the communities and the general public to without delay report such criminal elements and not harbor them  so that they would be picked up,” Col. Bako explained

    “On the issue of the closure of Sunday Market in Damaturu and other weekly markets across the state, the Commander said; the issue of the closure of the markets is very crucial because, it has helped us in blocking logistics supplies to the terrorists in the bushes. It has also helped us in picking up most of their logistics suppliers.

    “We are appealing to the people to understand that we are not doing this to punish anybody but it is for the safety of everyone. But I must add that the military has only stopped the operations of weekly markets across the state where people normally converge in large numbers,” Col. Bako said.

    In another development, Col. Dahiru Bako also informed that three of the top wanted Boko Haram members have been arrested by men of the 27 Task Brigade in Yobe State.

    Though he did not state details of their arrest apart from locations, he however informed that one of the wanted kingpins was picked while he was pretending to be working as a tailor at Don Etiebet Housing Estate in Damaturu while the other one was picked in Jakusko in Jakusko Local Government of Yobe State. He added that the third wanted Boko Haram terrorist was arrested at a checkpoint on his entry into Damaturu from Maiduguri.

    He commended the local hunters and vigilante, describing them as crucial partners to the success of the operation.

    He also represented the poster of the 100 wanted Boko Haram terrorists to the public.

  • Insurgency: IDP population rises to 2.2m – UNHCR

    Insurgency: IDP population rises to 2.2m – UNHCR

    The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday that the population of Internally Displaced People (IDP) in the North East had risen to 2.2million.

    The UNHCR Representative to Nigeria, Ms Angele Dikongue- Atangana gave the statistics in Abuja during the UNHCR 2015 stakeholders’ briefing of the commission’s representation in Nigeria.

    Dikongue- Atangana, however, said that the increase was not as a result of new displacement.

    She also said that the agency would not relent in its humanitarian support to Nigeria, urging partners and donor agencies to assist refugees and displaced persons.

    “The number of IDPs is not really increasing as a result of new displacement.

    “There could be some relatively small new displacement in the course of combating insurgency and knowing that the insurgents themselves still remain active, especially in this hit and run tactic.

    “ The number is increasing specifically because regaining control of the territory by the military opened further access for the humanitarian officials so they can count many more IDPs, be they old IDPs or very recent ones,’’ she said.

    The country representative disclosed that UNHCR had recorded success in its 2015 operational activities in Nigeria including addressing refugee and IDP plights, advocacy on statelessness, and collaboration with ECOWAS.

    According to her, the commission in its action plan supervised the voluntary repatriation of 452 Cameroonian refugees back to their country.

    She said that plans were already in progress to repatriate 165 others back to their country before the end of the year, while resettling others to a third country in Europe, and the U.S.

    She said that UNHCR was working closely with relevant bodies to ensure that IDPs had their basic rights especially the right to existence, food, shelter, education, security, amongst other amenities.

    The UNHCR representative said that in line with the global campaign in eradicating the scourge, it had engaged the National Assembly in domesticating the frameworks that would prevent and reduce statelessness in Nigeria.

    Also speaking, Ms Liz Ahua, UNHCR regional representative to West Africa urged donors and partners to take a trip to the field to be aware of the level of destruction for a better understanding of tge situation.

    According to her, the rate of displacement in Nigeria was alarming and actions needed to be taken fast as the displaced population could amount to the population of other smaller African countries.

  • Collective efforts needed to defeat insurgency, says Bankole

    Collective efforts needed to defeat insurgency, says Bankole

    Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, has tasked Nigerians irrespective of party affiliation and ethnicity to join hands with the Federal Government in order to put an end to insurgency in the country.

    He made this call during the inauguration of the Young African MBA (YBA), in Lagos over the weekend. The former number four citizen is the Patron of the youth organisation comprising of young Nigerians desirous of bringing about a positive change in the polity.

    Decrying the political colouration that the fight against terrorism in the country has assumed in the last few years, the former lawmaker charged all Nigerians to put aside their differences and speak with one voice against terrorism.

    He said: “No government whether controlled by the APC or PDP would be happy seeing its citizens being killed. Nigerians irrespective of their differences must cooperate with President Muhammadu and the government towards stamping out terrorism in our dear country. I find it very disheartening that some Nigerians are not speaking with one voice against terrorism in spite of the fact that thousands have been killed by these insurgents.”

    Speaking on the performance of the present administration in the last six months, Bankole noted that it was too early to make an assessment of the Buhari-led government, saying, “Whether on the economy or fight against terrorism, my take is that it is still too early to judge this government. I believe doing that would be rather unfair.”

    The former Speaker charged the youth to rededicate themselves to the task of nation building, while also calling on them to leave their comfort zones to enable them know more about the country.

    “Leaving on Victoria Island, Ikoyi and Lekki would not afford you the opportunity to know Nigeria. I did my National Youth Service and I enjoyed that experience. You cannot know this country by studying abroad and coming back to do your national service in Lagos where you have lived all your life. For the youth, my advice is that there must be a paradigm shift in our orientation if we want to make this country one that we would all be proud of.”

     

  • UNIMAID students return amid war on insurgency

    UNIMAID students return amid war on insurgency

    In spite of the ongoing war against insurgency in Borno State, the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) students have returned to the campus as the school re-opened for the 2015/2016 session.

    Activities have begun as returning students commenced registration online, while fresh students moving round the campus for screening. It was gathered that lectures had already started, while some students had moved into the school hostels.

    A returning student, Fatima Suleiman, hailed the school management for ensuring smooth academic progress despite the war on insurgency. She said: “The management has put a lot of things on ground to make this session better than the previous ones. The registration and application for hostel accommodation are now done online. We no longer have to queue up for hours for registrations.”

    Friday Anthony, a fresher, said he was surprised when the school announced its resumption. “It was surprised when I saw students on campus. I thought the crisis in Maiduguri would discourage resumption. This will encourage me to be passionate about my studies.”

    Yunusa Salihu, a graduating student of Biology Education, students had adapted to the security situation in the state, saying: “We are not discouraged by it and we believe God will soon grant total victory to the government forces.” He advised students to take their studies seriously.

    Blessing Samuel‚ a 300-Level Microbiology student, pleaded with the government to make the school secure from the insurgency.

  • Role of social media in war against insurgency

    The social media plays a pivotal role in the reportage of counterterrorism activities around the world. But this is not to say that the onus of nipping insurgency in the bud solely rests on its shoulders. Nigerian terrorist group, Boko-haram has gained increased media attention over the past few years. However, the efforts of our military troops in the north-east has been commendable and worthy of praise. The relationship between terrorism and social media has long been noted.

    Terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabab, ISIS, and more recently, Boko-haram, depend on the open media systems of democratic countries and the internet to further their propagandist goals and messages. In order to garner publicity for their cause, terrorist organisations resort to acts of violence and aggression that deliberately target innocent citizens and upload these nefarious acts on social media. This method has proven to be quite effective in gathering attention, due to the convenience, affordability and broad reach of social media platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. While the social media may not support the goals of terrorist organisations, it is their duty to report current issues and events as they break. In the fiercely competitive internet environment, when a terrorist attack occurs, social media outlets scramble to break the story. In so doing, they knowingly or unknowingly help to further the agenda of these groups. This clearly illustrates that terrorism thrives on the oxygen of publicity, and the free media in open societies are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation by ruthless terrorist groups.

    In the same vein, social media has been a remarkably successful means of publicising the fight against these insurgents by the brave men and women of the Nigerian military. As a result of its unique and ubiquitous nature, the social media has in more ways than one, helped to create a positive awareness via hashtags, retweets, viral anti-insurgency campaign videos and online press releases from notable military authorities, especially in the North-east. However, it can do more. Internet users look to social media outlets to provide news especially on terrorism and counterterrorism. If they believe the former is a threat to their safety, they will want to be informed of the threats against them. The social media must fulfil the desires of its consumers by portraying terrorism as a threat and a menace to our society. These platforms understand that the stories they report have astounding effects on the political, sociological, and psychological perspectives on our society. Hence, they must gear up and help to sensitise and sanitise the mindset of its users, helping to discourage the recruitment of unsuspecting citizens, and also aiding the general public by providing intelligence to security agencies. This means that they must be ready to work hand-in-glove with the latter, and must possess basic skills for writing for the new media. The social media blogger or reporter must be patriotic and must be adept in security intelligence reporting. They must also Understand basic security terminologies, be socially literate, possess the ability to effectively communicate with the public without unnecessarily heating up the polity with “half-truths”, and avoid news commercialisation by any means possible.

    In dealing with extremism, we need answers that go beyond a military answer. We need answers that go beyond force. Considering the role social media plays in our daily lives, it is arguably a massive tool in the ideological campaign of most terrorist groups, and if we as a nation are to gain the confidence of the entire citizenry, it is a weapon we must harness as well.

     

    • Oluwatosin, 400-Level Mass Comm., JABU

     

  • Focus on ending insurgency, monarch urges Fed Govt

    MONARCH of Emede Ibeku community in Umuahia North Local Government Area of  Abia State Eze Henry Ezekwem has urged the Federal Government to focus on ending insurgency in the Northeast and stop harassing members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

    The monarch described the clampdown on the group as a misplaced priority on the part of the Federal Government.

    Eze Ezekwem said the Federal Government should concentrate on how to eradicate the “constant  killings and destruction of property of innocent citizens”.

    “Instead of beaming its searchlight on MASSOB, which is agitating for a cause, the Federal Government should go after Boko Haram.

    “There is Arewa in the North, Afenifere in the South, militants in the Niger Delta and MASSOB in the Southeast, all crusading for a cause.

    “The Federal Government should stop killing MASSOB members and concentrate on ending Boko Haram,” Eze Ezekwem.