By Hugo Odiogor
Organisers of huge crowd pulling events need to issue terror watch alert and train their members and audience on counter terrorism intelligence following recent security threats, according to security experts.
Religious groups, Nigerian football community, wedding groups, schools, hotels, airports, markets, barracks, cinemas and beaches have been listed as vulnerable spots where innocent citizens could be targeted for terror attack by groups that want to make political statements and attract media attention.
Security experts told Saturday Vanguard that Nigerians must imbibe safety and security awareness and consciousness following recent terror related attacks in Jos and Abuja.
An Expert in Conflict resolution and University of Lagos Lecturer Dr Ademola Adeleke said: “Terrorist attacks are carried out by cowardly but minority group of anarchists who want to influence government policy or draw public attention to their grievances by attacking innocent people and vulnerable economic targets. Their aims are to inflict economic damage, inflict pains and sorrow on their victims and create general and immediate panic”.
He said “the anarchists are playing on public psychology by using violence as a medium of action to make a larger statement, which could be political or religious as we have seen with the new group of jihadists who are making effective use of the mass media, information technology, 24 hour television and internet to achieve wider propaganda for their actions”
Nigeria and some countries with sizeable population of mixed religious groups and those with moderate disposition to the relations between state and religion were listed by some radical groups in the Middle East who are waging war against secularism and liberal western culture and values as reflected in the philosophy of Boko Haram in Nigeria, Taliban in Afghanistan/ Pakistan and Al_Qaeda network.
Diplomatic sources said Nigeria is in the same category with countries like Egypt, Kenya, Denmark, Britain, Spain, United States, Australia, Indonesia, India, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey that are on the top list of potential targets for attack by radical religious groups.
“There is also clash of cultures, values and civilisation as some people who feel excluded or threatened by the spread of Western culture and civilisation are using terror to resist the trend and advancement. There is also the imbalance in the global political and economic systems, and some groups are using their religious beliefs to propagate the ideology of hate, that is why they say western education, culture and values are evil, Boko Haram,” one diplomat source said.
“It is now imperative for Nigerians to be given counter terrorism awareness and orientation of possible signs to watch out for to be able to forestall casualties in social events and places with huge presence of crowd. People must watch out for persons who loiter around in their vicinities to know their mission as bomb planters often survey their environment before depositing their deadly consignment. Security agencies should watch out for people who park cars in market places, stadium, Schools, Airports, Churches, Hotels and beaches and check their identities or ask them where they are going and for how long such cars or vehicles are to be parked. There must be greater attention to abandoned or unaccompanied luggage which may improvise explosive devices left in places as listed.
The President of National Union of Professionals Mr. Martins Onovo said the Federal Government must as a matter of urgency reorganise the state security service which has failed to live up to its statutory responsibilities to the nation in the past 20 years.
Aviation Consultant, Mr Titus Agbo said Nigerian aviation authorities should take the lead in mounting surveillance cameras in all the nation’s aviation facilities, and need not wait for government especially with nation’s CAT-1 certification. We must not allow our gateway to the world to have a negative image; we must also let people know that one of the reasons of asking passengers to switch off their cell phones in the aircraft is to frustrate the likelihood of someone using a handset to exploit a bomb. That is the negative side of technology but being conscious of a potential danger helps to avert it.
“Experience has shown that terrorists can conduct their attacks with variety of weapons namely guns, daggers, improvised explosive devices, cell phones which can be used to detonate IEDs in aircrafts because of the radioactive materials in it”. Nigeria’s security agencies have not been prompt in foiling the attacks by kidnappers and militants, but the Boko Haram, is a resurgence of global jihad being promoted by a network that has not been dictated by international security network.
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