Boko Haram importing sophisticated weapons through land borders – Izuagbe

Amid the continued insecurity issues with Boko Haram in the Northern part of the country, a senior Consultant and Public Affairs analyst, Abdulsalam Suleiman Izuagbe, has accused the Nigerian Immigration Services, NIS, of lagging behind in their duty of securing Nigeria’s borders.

Izuagbe alleged that officers of the NIS are “sleeping” at the borders while Boko Haram moves sophisticated weapons into Nigeria to enlarge insecurity in the North.

He charged the Nigerian Army Nigeria Air Force to collaborate in wiping out Boko Haram terrorists from the country using drones and modern Command equipment.

The analyst called on President Bola Tinubu to issue a marching order to security agencies to wipe out terrorists in the Northern part of the country.

According to Izuagbe: “When you look along the line, where are our Nigerian Air Force? What are we doing with the drones which are the tools to be used in locating enemy positions and gathering security information? NAF should help the Nigerian Army from the air since terrorists have no air support, we should be on top of it and destroy them. Those protecting them by naming them bandits while they are kidnapping students and residents, yet you call them bandits? They are terrorists.

“I know that if there is a will there’s a way, I’m sure the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria has the capacity to give the marching order to the Service Chiefs to go all out and destroy the enemies of Nigeria because the first reason for having a government is the protection of lives and properties.

“Why should the Nigerian Army spare those killing innocent people, wives and children? They brought down NAF in Niger State and till today, nobody has been punished, when some soldiers were killed in the Niger Delta, they invaded the community and raped women and killed people but when NAF was brought down in Niger, nothing has been heard. There should be on reason for using the Army which is to protect the integrity of Nigeria.

“If you go around some of the border areas which I don’t want to mention, you will realize that the Nigeria Immigration Service needs to wake up, it’s the system that should check movement around the border. The Customs are doing their part, they are generating the required revenue for the Federal Government. The immigrants are at the borders sleeping on duty while weapons are crossing the border daily.

“Otherwise, how do Boko Haram get sophisticated weapons into Nigeria if not through the borders? We are disturbed that the systems are in place but they are not working because the people saddled with the responsibility are there while people are crossing the border with bombs and guns. When you arrest some of these people they start negotiating for rehabilitators like the one presently negotiating with the Zamfara State government to be rehabilitated after he had admitted to killing 20 people, how do you explain that?”

The public affairs analyst also called on the Federal Government to turn towards hydroelectricity from dams to generate power in the country.

Izuagbe pointed out that several dams are laying fallow without being used in the country, adding that the government can take advantage to boost the energy sector.

“You cannot do much in an economy without having an adequate supply of electricity and that is why I was encouraged to hear when the president said he was ashamed to know that Nigeria generates 4.5MW of electricity. In fact, it’s a shame because we have many dams lying fallow, some of them were constructed and delivered to the federal Government in 1984 and were ready for use but nobody has used them till now. One of them is the Gororo Dam in Sokoto, Jurara Falls, and about two in Kano that are not generating any electricity.

“People continue to wait for the government to provide everything, all the governors since Obasanjo’s era failed to know that hydroelectricity is one of the cheapest ways of generating power, and power can make the economy grow. If Tinubu can fix the Gororo Dam in Sokoto which holds 42 million cubic litres of water per second, it will help a lot,” he added.