EJifor: We need intelligence gathering and citizens participation

A former director, Department of State Security Service and security consultant, Mr. Mike Ejiofor, has blamed increase of crimes in the North West geo-political zone, partly on poverty and hunger experienced in the country. In an interview with BRIDGET CHIEDU ONOCHIE, he called for internal vigilance to enable security operatives perform optimallyFrom Abba Anwar, Kano

On reasons for upsurge in crime in the North West Nigeria
The issue of robbery has been consistent with that Northwest and within that area. I was there in Zamfara State as the State Director of the Department of State Security Service. We have always had these cases of cattle rustling in that area. On the increase in their activities now, many reasons could be adduced to it, including economic reasons. Times are getting real hard and because farming generally in the North East region is no more practiced as it was used to be, the pressure is now on some other regions, particularly the North West. However, the issue of cattle rustling and robbery in the zone has always given the government concern to the extent that President Muhammadu Buhari had to go to Zamfara State to launch Operation Flush Out Criminals, to check the wave of cattle rustling in the area.

Aside the economy, another reason that could be adduced without facts or data is that the heat on Boko Haram members in the North East must have led to their spreading to other areas. The North West has border areas that also enable foreigners from Niger and all those neigbhouring towns to penetrate that region because the issue of cattle rustling is not restricted to Nigeria. It could be possible that some of the fleeing Boko Haram members would try to collaborate with the criminals in that area maybe with a view to finding funds, because they are running out of funds. You will agree with me that the heat has been on Boko Haram and they are running out of funds despite the affiliation to ISIS and the rest of them. So, I think this could be some of the reasons.

On attempt to man Nigeria’s borders in those regions
Our borders are very wide and porous without adequate manpower for regular patrol. What we would have done is to use other formulas through technology, but the fact remains that due to the economic downturn, the government cannot embark on that project. I recall that during the last administration, some people suggested fencing the borders and if we have to do so now, we should consider the cost implications.  So, what we require is the cooperation of the citizens living around the border areas. I cannot remember exactly the number of routes that we have and that makes it impossible for us to effectively man the borders.

Implications of criminals warning Zamfara State Governor
Criminals thrive on propaganda. What would they do to the government? Make the place ungovernable? There is nothing in their warning. These are part of psychological threats and they are from the local elements. Like I said, the possibility of people collaborating with outsiders cannot be ruled out. So, we have a link between the foreigners and the locals in perpetrating these crimes. This is the issue of intelligence gathering. It rests majorly on intelligence gathering and like I said, the issue of intelligence gathering is to enable government take predictive actions towards checking some of those crimes, but the security agents or the intelligent officers are not magicians, they cannot work without the cooperation of the locals. So, we need collaboration, we need information from the locals because they are also affected. Like we stated, the primary responsibility of government is the protection of lives and property, but this cannot be entirely left for government. It should be a collective responsibility and as such, the citizens should be ready to volunteer information to security agencies. Do not also forget that some of these locals live with people who know them as criminals and they continue to harbour them. At the end of the day, they become the victims. So, it calls for extra vigilance on the part of everybody.

On blueprint from Northern governors to checkmate the situation
This is not the issue of northern governors. We are talking of general security situation in Nigeria. It is not restricted to northern governors. We have Boko Haram operating in the North East, we have cattle rustling and all these rascals in the North West, in the South-South, we have the Avengers and we have kidnapping in the South East. So, it is not even the issue of religion or geo-political zone. It is a collective responsibility that government should address, but it also requires the support of the people. It therefore calls for intensive intelligence gathering to ensure that the criminals are identified and security agents adopt some capital measures.

Rating the level of vulnerability of the people of North East and the North West regions
The issue of the North East and the North West are entirely two different things. The challenges are different and as such, we cannot adopt similar measures to address them. On the issue of Boko Haram, we need to ask, ‘what are they looking for? What are their aims and objectives? We know that their demand at a time was to Islamize Nigeria. That is no more featuring. It is not possible because Nigeria is a secular State. It becomes more difficult to identify the leaders and deal with them. Some of them have come out with the intention of getting money from the government. So, it is a different ball game.

If you come to the North West for instance, it is more of general crime and economic reasons and government can concentrate efforts on addressing the economic issues in the zone easier than handling the problem of the North East.

I would rather suggest that the Federal Government adopts measures to address peculiar problems of each geo-political zone differently. This is because we cannot apply the same solution for the problem in the North East for the South-South. There are two different things. I also want to suggest that various governors in each geo-political zone, irrespective of political affiliations, should have regular meetings to work out strategies to solving their peculiar problems, as we cannot generally apply solutions to the entire problems in the country.