President Goodluck Jonathan has taken a number of policy decisions that are pro-people. One typical example is the recent introduction of the victims’ of insurgency support endowment fund headed by the immensely rich and resourceful General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), which as we were told surpassed its initial funding expectation because of the generosity of some good Nigerians who have passionate concern about the plight of the victims of the massacres by the Boko Haram insurgents in the last three years.
But seriously, most Nigerians are aghast regarding the decision of the President to let the sleeping (but troubling) dog lie in the ministry of interior where Mr. Abba Moro from Benue state holds sway as the minister. He supervised the national tragedy that saw the untimely killings in series of job stampedes of over a dozen Nigerian youth who were lured into buying recruitment forms far and above the number of vacant positions available at the Nigeria Immigration Service. By the way Nigeria is the only country that auctions recruitment forms into such strategic national security outfits such as NIS. Can anyone imagine that Britain could sell recruitment forms into its Border Control Agency, will Britain not be submerged by rich illegal migrants who have the means to pay their way given that the officials who are in charge also paid their ways into the border agency?
Many months after this national massacre, the minister is still roaming the corridors of power because, according to popular belief, he was introduced to the administration by Senate President David Mark who ranks as one of the most loyal members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. Senator Mark is also very close to the highest echelons of political power in the country and therefore can be said to be a power broker in this dispensation. But day after day, facts are emerging regarding why Moro, who prefers to be called a comrade, should not preside over as the Interior affairs minister.
With the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), which became pandemic in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, most Nigerians expected that the land and sea borders into Nigeria from these affected countries would have been closed even as the international airports are placed under the highest position of vigilance and flights from the affected nations banned from flying into Nigeria. Unfortunately, while effort towards checking the disease, after it was brought in from Liberia, is being made in the Aviation sector, the Ministry of Interior insists that there was no need to shut our borders. The minister is dead wrong on this just as he was in the surreptitious role he allegedly played that occasioned the killing of many Nigerian youthful job seekers.
We must close our borders now unless the government is in a national suicidal mission in which case ordinary Nigerians should speak out now and demand that the needful measures be adopted to save Nigerians from mass slaughter by this strange and suspicious bio weaponry disease-EVD. If small Cameroon can close its borders with Nigeria that has very minimal incidence of EVD why is the Nigerian interior minister insisting on allowing the borders open thereby further endangering millions of Nigerians? In the reports published on August 18 following the fears of spread of EVD through international air and seaports, including border land outposts of NIS in the Northeast sub-region of country, Cameroon has closed its borders with Nigeria and suspended all flights to and from Nigeria.
Cameroon, according to the NIS, has a border boundary of over 2, 000 kilometres in Borno, Adamawa, Taraba and Cross River states in the South-south of Nigeria. Information monitored from a special programme of the Hausa Service of BBC, the spokesman of Cameroon Foreign Affairs, Chiroumma Boukkari, said the decision to close the borders with Nigeria has become inevitable, because of the fears of the Ebola. “The border closures with our main trading partner will be lifted, as soon as Nigeria contains the spread of the deadly viral disease.
We also urge all border security agencies of the two countries to be vigilant by complying with this border closures made yesterday (Saturday at the weekend) by the foreign office here in Ngaudore.” said Boukkari.
Incidentally, while I was busy on this piece my attention was drawn to the interview where the Comptroller General of NIS stated that Nigeria has been able to identify and secure all the numerous porous international land and sea borders into Nigeria, especially from the restive Chad, Niger and Cameroon through the North Eastern axis of terrorism.
This claim is coming barely six months after the same agency sensationally claimed that Nigeria has over 5,000 porous borders. The reality is that public officials simply walk into media houses to make certain claims of achieving some landmarks but hardly find time to let independent verification of such claims. Democracy cannot be sustained in Nigeria if independent voices are not motivated and encouraged through transparent mechanisms to undertake such patriotic objectives on behalf of the Nigerian populace. The principle of public accountability also supports independent verification of claims made on behalf of the public by Nigerian officials.
Onwubiko wrote from Abuja and blogs @www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.huriwa.org.