Christopher Oji
A retired Assistant Inspector- General of Police (AIG), Ambrose Aisagbor, has said that the closure of Nigeria borders by the Federal Government would not solve the insecurity challenges in the country.
In a telephone chart with Daily Sun, Aisagbor described the border closure as exercise in futility as it would never work because the borders land mass was too wide.
According to him, the closure may work a little bit in the southern part of the country, but would not work in the northern part, as most of the borders in that part of the country are not properly manned.
He said:”For instance, it is very difficult to differentiate between a Nigerian and people of Niger Republic or Chad. Northern borders are too porous. Second, most criminals operating in the country are within. Only few of them come into the country through foot parts.
“Border closure will not solve our problems; it can only inconvenience genuine travelers. Our main problem is absence of strong intelligence gathering mechanism by security agents. There is no way we can fight insecurity without intelligence. Our security agencies are docile. Where are the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Intelligence Agency, DIA, DMI and others? What are these agencies doing? Without intelligence, insecurity will remain with us for a long time.
“Are you not surprised how we were able to fight civil war for almost three years? Are you not surprised that Boko-Haram has been committing heinous crimes for more than 10 years and there is still no end in sight? The havoc continues. Even with serious advancement in technology, no one has been identified as Boko- Haram sponsors. No one has been able to identify where Boko-Haram and other bandits get their logistics, arms and ammunition from.
“The solution to Nigeria’s problem is by investing in intelligence, not by closing the borders. We should always put the round pegs in the round holes. The Federal Government should begin to address the issue of individualism in our security agencies. Our security agencies see themselves as if they are working for themselves. You can never ever see an American CIA or Israeli Mossad in the public or parading suspects. The CIA or the Mossad would gather information or intelligence and pass them to the police. Our intelligence agencies should not be seen or heard in the public.
“I want to state unequivocally that the panacea to solving the problems of insecurity is massive employment for the youths.