The Director-General of the Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Dr Halilu Ahmad Shaba has called on the Nigeria security agencies to secure spots with high concentration of people carrying out day-to-day activities in Abuja.
Shaba said such spots are susceptible to attacks by the insurgents, who are desperately looking out for easy targets to embarrass the federal government.
The director general who spoke exclusively to 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE in Abuja, identified such spots to include Area 10 and the major markets within the city.
“There is another October 1st waiting to happen,” he pointed out referring to the Eagles Square bombing of October 2010.
He said “we are concerned about coronavirus but nobody makes plans in case a madman crashes into those places with a gun.”
He said despite the apparent vulnerability, security agents hardly mount surveillance and carry out routine checks in those areas to protect citizens in case of any eventuality.
“When I had a meeting with one of the police officers recently, I drew attention to the situation in Area 10, Abuja and the need for constant surveys based on the number of people that go there every day.
“At any given time, you have over 5,000 people there but security agencies are not monitoring and carrying out routine checks, and we know the insurgents are looking for damages that will embarrass the country.
“We are supposed to have a simulation there often; there is a police office there, the fire service office is close by and others. So there is supposed to be some kind of simulation that in the event of this, what do we do. We have not put anything in place to protect people going to that place.
“There was no need for 1st October, the bombing that took place if we had been forward looking. There was no need to wait for such to happen in the first place. These are areas that are critical and strategic that you use satellites to map, identify the key actors and also guide them.
“We saw what the GIS satellite imagery did to 911 (the twin towers attacks in New York) it aided the Fire Service operation well. When a hospital is filled up, they direct their officers to where there are spaces and the coordination among all the key agencies was excellent and seamless. So, there is the need for us to map all our strategic places and you can only do that with satellites because when the dynamic changes, we also have to change with it.”
On the ending war against insurgency and banditry, Dr Shaba said without the synergy among all security stakeholders, the crisis will continue to drag.
“I’m always an advocate of synergy among all stakeholders in times of crisis. There is the need to bring all relevant agencies and organs together to see what everybody can contribute. I keep saying this, my president will not be at war and I will go and attend a party. If he is wearing his boots, I will do the same and we go the same direction because he has the mandate of the country and if he sets out, we his lieutenants must follow.
“As individuals, we have to bring what we can contribute and collectively participate in containing the threat. I told you earlier that we have access to 300 other satellites and we can make them available to our security agencies but we are not the ones with the resources. The military have the mandate to fight insurgency and they are doing that, but there is one thing and that is whether other security agencies are comfortable working with them. Is the Police, the Nigeria Security and Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Department of State Service (DSS) and others finding it easy working with the military? Are they sharing intelligence? If that is not happening, then the war is not going to be won as anticipated.
“And that is why we are advocating for the National Recommission Centre in the agency (NARSDA) so that we can integrate the technology while they are doing their own thing. That way, they will have access to the technology. We use other analytics because we are a space agency; if you have data it is going to be cheaper for me and if for some reasons your data is not cheap for me, my people will not buy from you. So you will be thinking of making it cheaper.”
