Adekanye
By Our Reporter
An Emeritus professor, J. Bayo Adekanye, has said it is worrisome that Nigeria does not just have security challenges but that foreigners now import explosive materials with which they engage in mining activities without proper monitoring of the movement of such materials by security agencies. The former lecturer of political science stated this against the backdrop of a recent explosion that destroyed lives and property in Bodija Estate, Ibadan, Oyo State, south-west Nigeria.
Adekanye notes that Nigerians are long used to being informed by the authorities that a porous border is the reason criminals smuggle in weapons. But he expresses his concern that this has now degenerated further such that demolition materials easily escape the attention of the nation’s security architecture.
According to him, “We have long been used to hearing about the porosity of Nigeria’s borders, that allows non-citizens from neighboring countries coming in and going out without documented evidence of what wares they trade in (although it has long been known that much of the sophisticated weapons like the AK-47’s in use for waging the many armed attacks against the country’s unarmed civilian population by the criminal underworld are from this source).”
The emeritus professor who had his career at the University of Ibadan was concerned that this situation had worsened. “But to be now informed about the existence in our midst of powerful non-indigenes owning and operating registered companies with licence to import, transfer, and use top security (including bomb-making) materials such as IEDs simply beats the imagination,” Adekanye said in a statement he released to the press lately.
Recall that a blast incident in Ibadan of late has been attributed to foreigners who illegally store explosive mining materials in a residential area. The political leadership in the state has publicly put the blame on foreign illegal miners while calling for further investigation.
