The Sun News On-line|Abuja Reports

As they filed into the conference hall of the Chida hotel in Abuja for a talk-shop dressed in sparkling combat attire, they inspired confidence and hope of an impending doom for domestic terrorists in the country, especially those operating within the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

The 308 officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force are the first batch of an Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) initiated by the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, to tackle the rising spate of violent crimes across the country. After passing through an intensive course on counter subversive operations at the Police Mobile Force training centres at Gwoza and Ilarogun in Osun State, with the assistance of some experts from the military, State Security Services [SSS], and the Nigeria Customs Service [NCS], the men have been certified fit to confront terrorists head on.

And they would be deployed to Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. However, opinions are divided on the necessity for setting up the outfit, more so, since the military had been involved in anti-terrorist operations especially in the Niger Delta and in other areas when there is serious threat to internal security. There are also fears of a possible clash between men of the squad and military personnel in the event of their being deployed to the Niger Delta area.

But in justifying the creation of the outfit within the police force, the IGP Mike Okiro, said it was borne out of a mission to ensure a safer and more secured environment conducive for meaningful socio-economic development for the Nigerian citizenry and foreigners alike, a mission that is critical to the realisation of
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s economic vision of taking Nigeria to the league of the world’s 20 best economies by the year 2020. Besides, he says current global trends indicated that the phenomenon of international and domestic terrorism is real.

His words: “Our nation and the rest of the internationa community are deeply concerned about the danger posed by both international and domestic terrorism. Though the nation has not experienced any international terrorist attack, we cannot say the same with regards to the domestic form of terrorism.

This is witnessed daily through numerous cases of violent criminal acts committed by misguided individuals in prosecuting their heinous agenda. Among the many faces of domestic terrorism are sabotage, derailment of trains, hijacking of planes, kidnapping, bank robberies, and bomb explosions. I have set up the Nigeria Police Anti-Terrorism Squad. I have trained the first batch of 308 anti-terrorism squad officers”.

Okiro gave an insight into the notorious world of terrorists, whose primary aim, he noted, is to create extreme fear and terror in the minds of people so as to strengthen their demands. Having no respect for ethnic values, government and humanity, the IGP says terrorists resort to violence to create panic in the society. Hear him: “Satisfaction of their demands and taking revenge becomes the main aim, thereby the easiest way chosen is terrorism.

Nigeria, like the rest of Africa, is not invulnerable to global threat of terrorist attack. The Kenyan and Tanzanian embassy bombings of 2001 and subsequent terrorist attacks in North Africa are sad reminders about the vulnerability of our continent”. With the formation of the police anti-terrorism squad, Okiro said the next phase of a national plan for curtailing the ugly phenomenon is the design of a National Anti-Terrorism Strategy which should provide a clear statement about what the nation hopes to achieve in this campaign. In his opinion, the National Anti-Terrorism Strategy should not only define the roles of federal agencies, but also those of states and local governments, as well as the private sector and the international community.

He further wants the anti-terrorism strategy to establish goals, objectives, priorities, outcomes, milestones and performance measures. Towards achieving an acceptable national anti-terrorism strategy, Okiro says the focus should be on such areas as intelligence gathering and improvement of ability to identify and understand terrorist threat, disrupting terrorist activity and taking actions to frustrate terrorist attack, and bringing the perpetrators to justice through prosecution and other means of strengthening the legal framework.

He also harped on the need for cooperation and collaboration with local and international agencies to strengthen intelligence efforts, protection of key facilities, strengthening of border security to prevent terrorists and their sponsors from gaining access into the country, and getting better intelligence about suspects in transit. How and when these dreams would turn to fruition remains to be seen.