AS a way of finally nailing the resurgence of the type of sectarian violence unleashed on states of the North by the Boko Haram sect, the Federal Government is said to have engaged the services of some international security consultants who will join in beefing up the surveillance efforts of the State Security Services (SSS) on the identified crisis areas in the country.
Sources in the administration told the Nigerian Tribune that the government was determined to put an end to the kind of violence unleashed by the Boko Haram sect last week.
No fewer than 300 lives were lost in the sectarian violence which spread to some states of the North.
Besides the outbreak of violence in the states, government has also been contending with the protracted violence in the Niger Delta region, which has affected the oil export capacity of the country.
President Yar’Adua had decided to grant a blanket amnesty to militant groups in the Niger Delta as a way of ending the violent agitations in the area.
But the Boko Haram-led violence was said to have taken the government by surprise, especially the way it spread across states of the North.
While the SSS was said to have provided enough intelligence that would have nipped the violence in the bud, it was learnt that lack of adequate synergy among the different security and intelligence outfits led to the strike by the Yusuf-led Boko Haram group.
Sources said that the task ahead of the international security consultants would be to harmonise the functions of the security agencies and also ensure that the agencies were on red alert at all times.
It was gathered that security experts who analysed the outbreak of violence in parts of the North had questioned the failure of the police to successfully prosecute the group’s leader, after he was arrested and handed over to the police by the SSS.
“The weight of evidence pooled together by the SSS can easily nail the culprit, but it should be shocking to see that the prosecution turned out a negative verdict from the court. Something happened that is not right between the agency that made the arrest and the prosecution agency,” a source said on Tuesday, adding that the presence of the security experts would help close such gaps.
The SSS had earlier deployed its special squads in the affected areas, with a view to nipping further planned actions in the bud.
A source said that some of the international security experts had worked in difficult terrains such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
Another source said: “The Federal Government is greatly concerned about the state of security in the land. That is why no stone is being left unturned in securing life and property. The task ahead of the consultants is not a one-off thing. They are to analyse the security situation and embark on comprehensive review.”
The source added, however, that Nigerians needed not worry about the security information that could be at the disposal of the said international security experts, as most of them were Nigerians, who were either resident in the country or other Nigerians, who had acquired international reputation in security matters and visited the country regularly.