Modern technology and latest security gadgets are to be used in the war on terror. This was one of the decisions taken at an emergency Council of State meeting convened by President Goodluck Jonathan at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, yesterday.
The national security adviser (NSA), General Andrew Azazi (rtd), hinted that the government has commenced the process of overhauling the entire security system in the country.
Azazi stated that the Council of State “recognised the need to re-jig the security architecture of the country and the steps to be put in place to make sure that the security services are more effective.”
He said: “We agreed on the use of technology and you don’t acquire those things overnight. Issues like registration of SIM cards have to be properly effected.
We talked about border control – how to help the immigration to make sure that there is proper border control. We talked of security in maritime environment. Those issues were addressed.
“People have been arrested. I can tell you categorically that, on the Suleja bombing at the INEC office, everybody who was involved has been arrested.”
Azazi added that Nigerians must have to gird up their loins to live with the terrorist attacks for some time as they are challenges that are relatively new to the country.
“The important thing is that we as a nation should realise that we are facing challenges that are relatively new to us. It has happened in different parts of the world but today it is happening in Nigeria. And we must resolve as a nation to solve these problems. There are a lot of sensations in the media as to what has been happening – people arrested, people not arrested, people who died and all that.
“The problem is that we were not as a nation prepared for this new level of terrorism. With the public facilities we have, we were not prepared for that. So when these things happen there is a lot of devastation.”
Stressing the need to overhaul the security system, the NSA said, “All over the world, especially after 9/11 and the July bombings in London, public facilities have been improved to give restricted access, but we have not had that.
“To solve crime sometimes, you need a national identity database. We are trying to put that together. We are talking of putting a strategy on protection of critical national infrastructure. What do we do? what guidelines do we give to the nation on what to do about them? We are talking of public enlightenment; is it possible to enlighten the Nigerian public to make them more aware of the challenges? The security challenges are here to stay but we don’t think they will go away overnight, the more the public is aware of their responsibilities the better they could serve the security services.
“If we are more aware you could pass the information but the security services themselves must also improve. If you have not had a problem, it is difficult to find solution overnight, even our attitude towards the public, performance of our routine duties, and it is not just one security service. It could be the police, the SSS, the armed forces. We are discussing seriously how we want to meet the aspirations of the Nigerian public”.
Present at the meeting were former leaders Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and General abdulsalam Abubakar (rtd). Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida was absent.
The Council of State is comprised of former heads of state and presidents, former chief justices of Nigeria, all governors of the 36 states of the federation, the Senate president, the speaker, the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and the national security adviser.
Meanwhile, the Presidency has described as malicious, disrespectful and disparaging remarks about President Jonathan in yesterday’s edition of Daily Trust newspaper, noting that no charge of corruption was ever made or sustained against the president while he served as governor of Bayelsa State.
A statement signed by the special adviser to the president, Reuben Abati, said; “We are completely at a loss as to what purpose the Daily Trust expects its report which is wholly based on erroneous opinion and false conjecture to serve other than the objectives of those who persist in seeing no good in the Jonathan administration and doing everything possible to distract the president from his agenda for national transformation.
“It is a matter of public record, as the editors of the Trust well know, that no charge of corruption was ever made or sustained against the president while he served as governor of Bayelsa State, while his many achievements as governor of the state speak for themselves.
“The report also includes an unjustifiable attempt to impugn the president’s integrity by rehashing a well-worn fictional account of alleged corruption by the first lady which has been dismissed as arrant nonsense by the former Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. For the avoidance of any doubt whatsoever, President Goodlcuk Ebele Jonathan has never been on any EFCC list of corrupt governors and we challenge anyone to prove otherwise.”
The statement added that the cable which purports to be the source of the story is unverified. “Even the alleged cable itself cites as its source ‘reports’ and yet the newspaper went ahead to report an alleged incidence which was not in the purported cable and involved the seizure of large sums of money from the president’s wife while he was governor. The incident described above never happened and is at best a figment of the reporter’s imagination,” it read.
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