An interview with a
lecturer at the Nigerian institute of journalism, ogba Lagos, on the security
issues in the country. In this interview, the problem of insecurity in Nigeria,
and the suggested solutions were discussed.
Interviewer: can you
please tell us about yourself, qualifications, profession etc.?
Interviewee: I am Tene
John, a B.Sc. M.Sc. holder in political science and international relations
respectively. I’m a lecturer by profession, in the Nigerian Institute of
Journalism and I am a Nigerian.
Interviewer: what can you
say about the current state of security in Nigeria?
Interviewee: what we have
in Nigeria is insecurity, the opposite of security, where there is inadequate security, properties are
being destroyed and even the government is scared.
Interviewer: what will you say the federal government is
doing right or wrong about the issue of boko haram in the country?
Interviewee: the federal government have not folded their
arms on the issue of boko haram but I would say their major failure is
negotiating with the terrorists, the amnesty those insurgents were granted made
them feel that the government is scared of them and they continued asking for
more, there’s no place in the world where terrorists should be negotiated with.
The government shouldn’t have allowed the boko haram issue get to this point
where they have kidnapped over 200 girls, to do what?! Whenever I think about those
girls and all they would be going through, my heart cries out.
Interviewer: what steps do you think the
federal government should take in ensuring adequate security in the country?
Interviewee: Like I tell
people, state policing is important, with state police around, there will be
less evil in the country, the presence of policemen would curb violence and
crime in the society, so FG should consider putting them on concurrent list,
whereby it is done by both the government at the central and the state, they
should allow the state to control their own police. Also, vigilante groups can
also offer a lot of help; they should be permitted in the country.
Interviewer: Do you think
that the involvement of other countries on the abducted girls’ issue and boko haram issue generally would
yield a positive result?
Interviewee: well em, by and large, to my little
knowledge, in international system,
whatever happens to Nigeria happens to Cameroon and would also happen to
the neighbouring countries and that is why the world itself is a global village,
we will look at it when the issue of terror first started that no, no, no, the
issue of terrorism is not a Nigerian thing, it is common with Syria, Pakistan,
Iraq, no, no, no, it has not come here to stay. But you’ll discover that the
world has become a global village, the issue of technology has gone to the
extent that you’ll see what takes place almost in every part of the world, and
that alone has exposed people to a lot of violence, a lot of crime and a lot of
evil and you see people trying to express
or exhibit their own kind of opinion in fighting the government of the day. But
the truth of the matter is that we need a follow up from these countries, they
have the Intel and technology and we have the foot soldiers, in fact, Nigerian
soldiers are highly respected when it comes to combat and in the United
Nation’s peace keeping mission. But the government of U.S., China, U.K. will
help in the aspect of technology, not that they’re coming to fight, they’re
coming to help us out like what happened in Malaysia also, about the missing Jet,
it concerns everybody it has become a global fight and that is why their
involvement is normal it is a welcome development an attack on one is an attack
on all. They never can tell the effect to their own country and that is why you
can see the wife of the American president Michelle Obama supporting the
protest then and even carried placards saying “bring back our girls”. I believe with
their involvement, they would make it easier to discover the hide out of the
boko harams and where the girls are. To be sincere there’s a limit to what the
Nigerian soldiers can do because it is not that they can no attack but I
believe that government is playing politics with the issue of this attacks
because you cannot tell me that the soldiers cannot attack the terrorists, they
can, but we can say because of the ethnic differences, that by the time he
gives the order the people in the north can say oh, no wonder, when his people
started, they did negotiation, they gave them amnesty, no wonder he wants to
kill us. So there’s a little bit of politicking with the issue of boko haram.
Interviewer: So can you
categorically say that you believe politicking is involved in the boko haram
issue in Nigeria?
Interviewee: yes, yes! I
can say that, categorically because with what they exhibit, looking at it, if
you look at the primary function of government, constitutionally, it is the duty of the government to save lives
and properties, but where lives are being taken, look at Nyanya attack for
example; repeating itself twice and the government is sitting, folding his
hands and doing nothing, lives and properties are being wasted everyday, on a
daily bases, so I can say categorically that politicking is involved.
Interviewee: what advice
can you give Nigerians in order to secure their lives and properties in view of
the current state of insecurity in the country?
Interviewee: well, gone are the days we sleep with our two
eyes closed, I want to advice Nigerians that this time around when you sleep,
close one eye and open the other eye to watch, (chuckles) even the bible says
“watch and pray” you cannot pray without watching and you cannot watch without
praying, what I’m trying to say is that let us be vigilant, let us be conscious
of our environment, if you see a strange fellow in your environment or in your
neighborhood, ask questions. I once saw a strange lady in my environment at the
night and she was by a corner making phone calls, I asked her what she was
doing there and ended up sending her away, people like that kidnap babies. When
you see them patrolling your area, challenge them with questions so that
they’ll now you’re vigilant. Because if they’re allowed, you won’t know when
they will plant a bomb and before you know it there’ll be explosion. Also, the
issue of security is not for government alone, in our community we need to take
challenges, we can get the vigilante groups, employ them and pay them so that
they watch over, at times you’ll see some people saying that they cannot pay
while others are paying and before you know it, thieves would come to that area
and they would point at that house that is not paying, so let there be community development you don’t
wait for government to do everything for you. E.g. if your roof is leaking, you
don’t wait for the landlord to come and do it for you, you should save your
properties first.
Interviewer: thank you
very much sir.
Interviewee: (smiles)
you’re welcome.
MAR’YAM THAWBAAN
