FG to deploy CCTVs in public places

Posted by admin Headlines Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

The Federal Government on Monday resolved to introduce security measures in a bid to check the rising incidents of bomb blasts in the country.

Among the measures taken at the end of an emergency National Security Council meeting in Abuja was the deployment of closed-circuit televisions in public places or establishments to monitor movements into them.

Also, government is to introduce regulations that will enable security agencies to control access to both public and private establishments.

The meeting also decided that President Goodluck Jonathan should appoint a Special Adviser on Terrorism within the next one week and work with the National Assembly for a speedy passage of the anti-terrorism bill .

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Communications, Mr. Ima Niboro, told journalists after the meeting that lasted more than five hours that two presidential committees would be constituted to control the use of explosives and make the public more security conscious.

Niboro said, “The President convened an emergency meeting of the NSC to address the state of security in the country. The meeting also reviewed the bomb incident of New Year’s Eve and condemned it as an act of terror.

“Regulations are underway for access control for both public and private establishments.

“All armouries licensed by the police are to be further inspected to regulate how the materials are imported and used in Nigeria.

“The meeting also resolved that a Presidential Committee on the Control of Explosives and other Incendiary Materials and another Committee on Public Enlightenment on General Security Awareness Amongst Citizens should be constituted by the government.”

The council said it was not unmindful of the implications of the prevailing security situation in the country on the conduct of the forthcoming general elections as it directed the Nigeria Police Force to arrest and prosecute all political thugs.

“In the build up to the elections, the police have been directed to ensure the prompt arrest and prosecution of political thugs,” Niboro said.

The December 31, 2010 bomb blasts at Mogadishu Barracks was the second of such incidents in the FCT. The first was on October 1, 2010, near the Eagle Square.

Besides the two incidents in Abuja, there have also been bomb blasts in other parts of the country, including Jos, Plateau State; Warri, Delta State; and Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Top government officials that attended the NSC meeting which was convened by Jonathan included the National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi (retd.); the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim; the Director-General of the State Security Service, Mr. Ekpenyong Ita; the Director-General of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, Ambassador. E. O Oladeji; and the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petirin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Sahad Ibrahim; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice- Marshal Mohammed Umar; Minister of Defence, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode; Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Humphrey Abba, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Mahmoud Yayale Ahmed, were also in attendance.

Meanwhile, the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation has alleged a plot by the Federal Government to frame up political opponents of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The AACO, in a statement on Monday, accused the Jonathan administration of inciting the public against former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar by linking his (Abubakar) recent comments to the latest bomb blasts in Abuja.

According to the statement, newspaper adverts by the “President’s agents” are already making insinuations of Abubakar’s alleged connection with the violent incidents.

While condemning violence in any form, the organisation said it had observed that the President was taking advantage of national grief to hang the responsibility for the ‘terrorist incidents on the necks of main political rivals such as Abubakar.”

“It is unhelpful neither to the security agencies nor for national security for President Jonathan to jump the gun of investigations and seek to make political gains out of an uncomfortable incident that have caused grief to many Nigerians,” it added.

– Punchwp_posts