“On the AIT news yesterday evening 4th
May 2012 by 8pm, a telephone message to AIT from Boko Haram leaders promised to
launch an attack within the next 78hrs in Abuja and Lagos respectively...”
The above message
is an example of the story being circulated on the social media network in the
last 24hrs. This is just one of the few messages you read about Boko Haram
every day.
The recent Boko
Haram attacks against some media houses and the killing of some Christian’s
worshippers inside the Bayero University Campus, Kano have opened the gate of rumors.
The tale of the next targets of Boko Haram sect in the series of bombing has
been flying from lips to lips among the citizens. Nigerians are now living in fear, not only
because of the threats alone but for lack of information and public guide from
the government. There is a need for a National Terrorism Advisory System; a
program similar to the United States Department of Homeland Security warning
system, which will more effectively communicate information about terrorist
threats by providing timely, detailed information to the public, government
agencies, first responders, airports and other transportation hubs, and the
private sector.
 |
| Anti-Terrorist Unit of Nigeria Military at Thisday office, Abuja |
In the last one
week, we have heard the rumor of Boko Haram’s purported plans to attack Lagos
City, Ibadan Metropolis, and the latest is the University of Ilorin in Kwara
State. There was another Hoax bomb threat at Banex Plaza in Abuja. The
situation has gone bad that even students who did not prepare to sit for their examination
invoke the threat of Boko Haram bombs on the authority to have the examination
cancelled. Some of these stories are even comical in nature. One of such lies
is the one on the Facebook recently; claiming four members of the Boko Haram sect
who wanted to bomb the Winners Chapel Headquarters in Ota ran mad and started
confessing before Bishop Oyedepo.
The most
disturbing of all these is no inspiring information is coming from any agencies
of the government assuring people of their safety and telling them about the
credible threat and what to do when they are confronted with such a situation.
Nigerians are already used to the occasional messages from the presidential spokesperson,
saying “the government is on top of the situation and every citizen should be
calm and go on with their normal duties.”
Nigeria is
currently going through a challenging period of which the information dissemination
to the citizens about the prevention of terrorism becomes very important. Therefore,
the government needs to be more open and sincere in managing information than
giving the opportunities for rumor mills to peddle rumors, which create fears
and heighten tension.
We know that the
government cannot prevent all the attacks all the time, but there is a need for
a strong mitigation process as part of our preparedness and exposure reduction.
Mitigation is a sustained action to reduce or eliminate risk to people and
property from hazards (natural and man-made like terrorism) and their effect.
The Boko Haram
has been using threats to create fear among the public, trying to convince
citizens that the government is powerless, unpopular and lacks credibility to
give directives and mobilize citizens against the terrorists. One way the government
can reduce people’s vulnerabilities to terrorist incidents is to give them
accurate and credible information as part of the mitigation process.
During the attack
on the media houses in Kaduna, the citizens facilitated the arrest of one of the
suspects. The lesson from this act is that the citizens can work with law enforcement
agencies and the intelligence community to attack and defeat terrorism in
Nigeria if they are properly mobilized, informed and inspired to act in support
of the government.
Nigeria
confronts a dangerous combination of known and unknown vulnerabilities, strong
and rapidly expanding adversary capabilities, and a lack of comprehensive
threat awareness. The Boko Haram, bombing activities is occurring every day on
an unprecedented scale with extraordinary sophistication.
Nigeria as a
nation faces domestic terrorist networks, organized criminal groups,
individuals, and other corrupt political actors with varying combinations of
technical sophistication and intent. Terrorist groups and their sympathizers
have continually expressed interest in using terror, violence and fears to destabilize
the entity called Nigeria under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan. Criminal elements continue to show growing
sophistication in their technical capability and targeting churches, media
houses, schools, and the Nigerian police
Therefore, the government should recognize
that Nigerians share responsibility for the nation's security, and should
always be aware of the heightened risk of terrorist attack in the country and
what they should do. The citizens need to be informed or else some of them will
resolve to self-help, which may further worsen the situation.
We need an agency that will be at
the forefront of given a strategic direction as part of the concerted national effort
to prevent terrorist attacks within our country and reduce Nigeria’s
vulnerability to terrorism
Oludare Ogunlana is a Security/Terrorism Analyst
and President of the Global Alternative Agenda
1 comments:
then what should we do about this boko haram members of a thing or is this how our government would be watching us
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