It was with shock that the world woke up on Sept 11, 2001, to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon that left virtually all the nations on the surface of the earth in tears. It signalled a change in warfare as the then President, George Bush, resorted to the most ruthless means in dealing with the heartless group, Al Qaeda, and the war was sustained by the Obama Administration as it was a national engagement not political.
The villain was tracked and killed in his hiding place in Abbottabad, Pakistan, few meters from the Pakistani military base on 2nd of May 2011, by Navy Seals of the U.S Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
A sharp contrast in Nigeria’s security architecture is the inability to define and dissect the word terrorism which has made the Nation’s case to be likened to a drowning man who is only able to latch onto a straw in the fight to stay afloat.
The nation has been caught in the web of unrests in the Niger Delta as a result of the exploitation of the resources in the region and then the ruthless attacks by the dreaded sect, “Boko Haram” that have left hundreds of thousands dead and millions homeless, not to mention the marauding herdsmen who slaughter communities. Yet, unfortunately, there seems to be no glimmer of hope for the teeming populace.
The previous administration had a series of sabotage to contend with in the war against insurgents from the North-East that it resorted to the use of mercenaries and importation of arms from Russia as against the conventional means because certain unscrupulous elements from the country claimed that genocide and ethnic cleansing were being carried out on their people.
Fast-forward to 2018 and we see that the snake of the pre-APC era has grown into a dragon that has claimed lives of gallant soldiers who are victims of ethnic and political superiority rather than adhering to rule of law which of course has become a topic of dispute in the claims of national interest!
If indeed the government of the day is committed to eradicating terrorism, they must be ready to do things differently by purging themselves of their selfish agenda and keying into the potentials of the youths while unifying the technical abilities of all regions by practising true federalism.
True federalism made Nigeria venture into satellite operations that led to the establishment of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), which is an arm of the Federal Ministry Of Science and Technology in August 2001.
Among the various functions of this rich and lofty program is Defence and Security i.e. establishment of a defence Space Command in the Ministry Of Defence.
This command has representatives of defence, intelligence, security and law enforcement services who report through the ministry of defence to the National Space Council.
With these satellites, the government can monitor the influx of terrorists along the borders; they can evaluate the rate of ongoing activities of deforestation and forever bring a solution to the occupied Sambisa forests! Thereafter, these satellite imaging could then be used to check bunkering activities and not just for weather forecasts as is the case with little or no responses from the National Emergency Management Agency.
It is high time we begin to do things differently in Nigeria so that our unborn generations will not inherit a desolate land from today’s crop of leaders!
