By Ayuba Aisha
For the umpteenth time, Nigerians were rudely woken up on Monday, April 14, 2014 to another deafening explosion in Nyanya in Abuja. After the smoke that accompanied the blast cleared, about 72 innocent Nigerians had been killed, while over 200 who suffered various degrees of injuries were rushed to various hospitals where they are currently receiving treatment.
That singular murderous incident has left the nation reeling in avoidable pains and once again brought to the front burner the worrisome issue of terrorism that has held the nation by the jugulars and taken its development back by several decades. Apparently caught unawares by that bloody incident, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA)has understandably rolled up its sleeves with a view to nipping future similar incidents in the bud and to ensure that residents of the city go about their businesses without fear of molestation, especially from the rampaging Boko Haram elements.
To this end, the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, has constituted a special committee to reconstruct, upgrade or relocate the park to enhance security and free flow of traffic in Nyanya.
The minister, who constituted the Committee during an emergency security meeting, directed the committee to commence work immediately, just as he also called on Nigerians to ensure that all hands should be on deck to ensure that normalcy returns to Nyanya and environs as quickly as possible.
Now that the FCTA is re-strategizing to tackling security challenges in the territory, it is significant to advise that all the installed CCTV cameras dotting Abuja landscape like museum artifacts should be replaced with functional ones. This will go a long way in detecting and eventually nipping criminal activities in the bud.
Criminals, including the murderous Boko Haram elements, live among the people and as such, eternal vigilance should be everybody’s watchword.
Since the current security challenges pose dire threat to the survival of the nation, there is equally the challenge of rethinking and improving on policy and institutional means of dealing with security concerns. At the political level, federal, state and local governments should evolve programmes of cultural and political education and orientation that seek to enthrone the fundamentals of democracy so that the political contestants and the citizens imbibe principles and practices essential for sustainable democracy. Such programmes must also address specific tendencies that create security breach and concerns in the country.
The nation’s parliament equally has a fundamental role to play in tackling the security menace confronting Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria. This much was attested to by a former Head of State, Gen. AbdulsalamiAbubakar (rtd), in a lecture he delivered at Nigeria Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru on November 26, 2004 thus: “A process of legislative and constitutional review should be initiated to assess the country’s constitution and amend or expunge as necessary areas that have been found to give rise to conflicts and security problems. The process should also introduce new provisions and legislations that will ensure better and more effective interplay of interests among all groups and stakeholders in Nigeria”.
According to him, such exercise should also embrace ways of making the country’s democratic space more open, free, fair and tolerant as exist in other democracies, stressing that legislative and constitutional reviews should also embody security sector reforms that will make the security agencies and institutions more effective in combating crimes and other threats to national security and make them accountable to the democratic political system and structures.
The strategic committee on the reconstruction and upgrading of the Nyanya Park comprises members from the Urban and Regional Planning Department of FCT, Land Department, AGIS, and the Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council.
Apart from the mandate to work out modalities for reconstructing the park, the committee is also expected to explore the possibility of relocating the park to a better place to ease observed traffic gridlocks. The reconstructed park would have all necessary security features.
While appealing for the understanding of commuters and motorists plying the Mararaba – Nyanya – AYA road to bear with the authorities as efforts are being made to upgrade the Nyanya park and improve security and traffic flow, the minister gave directives for enhanced security in usually crowded public places including other motor parks, stressing that in matters of security, everybody is a stakeholder.
Aisha, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Wuse, Abuja
