Following the United Nations’ suspension of official travels to the country due to the spate of bomb attacks in Abuja, residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have described the decision as “unfortunate” and a setback in the country’s efforts to combat insecurity.
The residents said that the decision would not benefit both Nigeria and United Nations, noting that violent attacks were not peculiar to Nigeria.
The United Nations has suspended all official travels to Nigeria indefinitely, citing security threats in the country after the August 23 bombing of its Abuja headquarters as the reason for the travel ban.
The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) also moved its food summit from Abuja to Dakar, Senegal, as a result of the world body’s decision.
Adoba Echono, a civil servant in Abuja, said that the decision was “unnecessary”. He said it would not help either the international community or Nigeria in fighting terrorism, and it would rather give impetus to the cause of terrorism in the world, noting that no modern democracy in the world was immune to violent attacks.
According to him, the UN should rather direct its resources towards fighting the scourge of violence both in the Nigeria and the world over.
“Terrorism can take part in any part of the world, like what happened at the World Trade Centre in the United States of America,” he said. “I think for them, they should assist us in curbing this ugly trend of terrorism and not like imposing a travel ban on the country because it is not going to help us.
But for me, I am against the travel ban on the country because it is not going to help us and it will not help even the international community in combating terrorism, it is a very negative development, I don’t like it and I think it’s a wrong move for me.”
On his part, Peter Odia, the Coordinator of the Human Rights Accountability Initiative (HURAI), also faulted the decisions of the UN and its agencies. He said that the commitment demonstrated by the federal government towards curbing insecurity both before and after the UN headquarters bombing were enough for it to have escaped any severe reactions from the international community.
“My reaction is that, if such a statement is indeed emanating from the UN, it will be very unfortunate because so far, since the blast happened, the Nigerian government has shown so much solidarity to the extent that the head of UN, Ban Ki Moon, commended the Nigerian government,” he said.
On what the decision portends for the nation’s position in the international community, Odia said that it would send a wrong signal to prospective investors and visitors to the country.
“When other investors will know that such a country has been singled out, of course they will not want to invest in such areas and those already there will want to maybe minimise their investments or withdraw their investments in totality,” he said.
He said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should swing into action to get the country out of its present predicaments.