FIGHT AGAINST TERROR, CCT THE ANSWER -FESTUS MBISIOGU, BLUE DIAMOND BOSS
Following the bomb attack on the United Nations Building in Abuja Nigeria recently, which brings the total number of bomb attack to nine in 12 months, the Federal Government has been urged to tame the Boko Haram sect who has claimed responsibility for the dastard act.
According to Mr. Festus Uzoma Mbisiogu, CEO Blue Diamond Logistics China and President Good Governance Initiative (GGI), the installation of Close Circuit Television (CCT) in strategic places and streets would help check the menace. He said this can only be achieved through uninterrupted power supply.
He speaks further
Excerpt
UN House bombing
May I use this privilege to condemn in its entirety the wicked act which claimed many lives. This act may cause more damage to the nation already bastardized image which is likely to scare investors away from the country.
The UN building represents the world hence the incident was a big blow to the image of the country. The nations security network should be overhaul, modern anti terrorism method should be applied because we cannot watch helplessly while terror reign supreme.
Yes bomb attack is not peculiar to Nigeria alone considering our role and place in Africa and in the global Economy, Nigeria is strategic and must do everything possible to protect her citizens and other nationals. Bad governance leads to insecurity. The present administration led by His Excellency Dr. GoodLuck Jonathan inherited ill-equipped security agencies hence it is a big burden on Mr. President and we should support him at this trying period of nation building.
I suggest Mr. President orders the installation of Close Circuit Television (CCT) in public places and government offices. When you travel out of this country and see the quantum of development going on even in countries that are not as abundantly blessed as Nigeria and you compare the resources at our disposal here, you will see that Nigeria has no reason to lag behind in terms of development, yet that is not enough reason some people will choose evil ways to vent their anger, frustration, greed and displeasure for bad governance but in a more decent way effect the change we desire dearly in Nigeria instead of killing innocent people.
Therefore insecurity is a challenge before all of us, it is one of the challenges that led me into establishing an NGO Good Governance Initiative (GGI) and our main aim is to advocate true corporate governance and workable development strategies in major sectors of the Economy, particularly on power and infrastructural development.
Effect of the bombing
Those of us residing outside the country may be subjected to tougher security checks which are not good considering what we are already going through in the hands of Security agents overseas, couple with this bombing it will worsen our situation.
Also investors maybe scared away. Yes we can redeem our image if Mr. President can fortify our security Network, after all, suicide bombing has happened in many nations yet business is thriving because they were able to guarantee security of lives and property of their citizens and foreigners. So Mr. President must restore the confident of the international communities that Nigeria in spite of all odds is safe.
CCT monitoring
Advance countries have introduced more sophisticated and modern techniques to dedicate and combat crime such as CCT. This camera is mounted in the public places and government offices on the streets to dedicate and combat crime but cannot perform optimally without steady power. If we have steady power, we don't need FBI to come and help us investigate crime because with CCT in place, crime rate will reduce drastically.
For instance the Hamas leader killed in Dubai, the security agencies in Dubai uncovered the killers with the help of CCT.
Lack of power, the bane of our backwardness
All the problems facing the nation can be attributed to lack of steady power hence Youths becomes willing tools in the hands of sponsors of terrorism because they are not gainfully employed. So many factories and manufacturing companies had closed shop or relocated to Ghana or South Africa where there is steady power.
This became necessary because they spent so much on diesel and when they close shop, they had no option but to retrench thereby increasing the labour market. And we all know that an idle mind is the devil's workshop.
For instance in 1980, Nigeria had over 350,000 workers in textile manufacturing companies. A data by Manufacturing Association Nigeria (MAN) indicated that in 2009, 834 manufacturing firm closed shop and the data indicated that the spread of the closure covered all the part of the country. Between 2001, the manufacturing sector employed about 2.8 million people and it declined to 1.5 million as a result of non steady power supply.
In Textile Manufacturing companies which employ 350,000 people in the mid 80s has declined to less than 20,000 people as a result of unstable power supply.
Further, the existing Manufacturing firms spend N796.4b on diesel to power generators as published in Daily Sun of Monday August1, 2011.
The amount is said to be equivalent to the nation's annual expenditure for over 30 years. According to report, there were no investment in the power sector, or new investment in new power generating plant, transmission and distribution and due to these lapses, successive governments have been suffering from these failures.
Therefore because our Economy is generator driven, prices of goods and services are beyond the reach of average Nigerian, while many lives have been lost due to generator explosion all because of lack of steady power. The present administration should endeavor to provide steady power which would create employment and generate wealth. If this is done, crime rate will reduce and insecurity will be a thing of the past.