A Security Consultant, Chris Moghalu, believes that the Federal Government should take the blame for Monday’s bombing of a busy park in Nigeria’s capital city which left many dead.
He made this assertion on Tuesday, while appearing as guest of ‘Sunrise Daily’ on Channels Television, 24 hours after the Nyanya Park bombing which claimed tens of lives at the Federal Capital Territory.
“We see the same thing over and over again, and the Federal Government keeps telling us they are working on it, but to the public they are not doing enough.
“The Federal Government keeps defending itself, we feel they are being defensive.”
He referred to statements credited to the Federal Government claiming that terrorism was not peculiar to Nigeria; he debunked the view, claiming that in other countries there are usually efforts to keep the rate of occurrence to the minimum.
The Ex US Army Intelligence Officer cited the United States of America as an example; he noted that it took 12 years after the 9-11 tragedy before another terrorist attack was successfully hatched in the country.
He maintained an earlier position where he recommended solutions to the problem of terrorism in Nigeria. He insisted that there were too many security agencies doing the same thing and there was need to merge them.
He also recommended the establishment of the Department of Homeland Securities; the need to close down the borders and provide tighter monitoring; the engagement of intelligence analysts, review of the training of security personnel and vetting the people in the security agencies.
He insisted that if the Federal Government had indeed been doing something, there were no practical milestones to validate such. He added that the reshuffling in the military had not produced any results.
While admitting that he might have been harsh on the Federal Government with his assertion that they were not doing anything, he insisted that the people were not feeling the impact of anything being done, if indeed they were being done.
“Whatever it is they are doing, it is not working,” the intelligence expert said.
Moghalu stated that the Boko Haram sect were working with the Hezbollah and other terrorist groups in other parts of the world which were very organised and professional in what they do. To fight them, he said, “we just need to be professional in what we do.”
He also insisted that real impact would be the ability of Nigeria’s security agencies to foil these attacks before they are executed, as he laid emphasis on proper security awareness for Nigerians.
The expectation of Nigerians that the CCTV installed in the FCT should have been useful in curtailing the incident was also discussed, with Moghalu expressing disappointment in what he termed the politicising of the CCTV idea.
He complained that “people just want to make money” which he said Nigerians were not stopping them from doing, if only they would perform their duties and keep the citizens safe.
“They have to spend the right money to do the right thing and give the contracts to people who know what they are doing.
“Even the traffic lights in Abuja are not really working, it is horrible.”
Moghalu also spoke about the security of Nigerian Airports and advised the Nigerian Government to commit more into the economic survival of small businesses in the country, as it was also related to the country’s fight against terrorism.
Citing the delay in the passing of the Petroleum Industry Bill, the partial implementation of the Money Laundering law and more, he said: “We play politics with everything that is important to Nigerians.”
Responding to a Channels TV viewer, who was contributing to the programme via social media, Moghalu said that the public does not trust the security agencies because they had been burnt in the past for providing information. “The security agencies need to go out and relate with the people and earn back their trust,” he said.
The issue of State Police also came to the fore and Moghalu said that although the idea of decentralising the Police was a good one but Nigeria was not ripe for it. “Not at this time”, he said, adding that politicians and their families could abuse it.
