Security Analyst and Chief Executive Officer of Mawan Security Services, Emmanuel Kotin has alluded that Nigeria’s communication method on its recent security breach to Ghana was explicitly inappropriate and outmoded.
According to recent security developments in the West African sub-region, Nigerian authorities have acknowledged lax security at a jail in the capital city after an attack last week led to the escape of hundreds of detainees.
The reports indicated that 879 prisoners, including 64 members of the terrorist group Islamic State West Africa Province, which took responsibility for the attack, escaped from the Kuje sector of Abuja prison. An offshoot of the Boko Haram militant group, which has been waging an ongoing uprising in northeast Nigeria for ten years, is the Islamic State-affiliated outfit.
However, according to the security expert, the means of communication used by the Nigerian authorities to Ghana and other neighbouring countries was wide of the mark.
In an interview with Raymond Nyamador on the Happy Morning Show, he shared, “First of all the protocol the Nigerian authorities used to communicate to Ghana is wrong. Because in communication we have strict security protocols in communicating certain information, especially in wake of terrorism. Looking at the ECOWAS counterterrorism strategy and implementation plan which I was privileged to be among various security analysts to look at in Abuja in 2015-16, there are strict guidelines in communication schemes.”
Mr Emmanuel Kotin noted that the best approach to counterterrorism is through intelligence.
“This Jail break is not just an ordinary jailbreak, if we could remember this is the second jailbreak that has happened in Nigeria within two months. And we all know the source or the perpetrators of the jailbreak. It came from a terrorist organization, Boko Haram. So to that extent, it would have been wise for Nigeria to communicate with the Intelligence agency of Ghana and this is how terrorism should be portal. It should be intelligence led not what we have done in the past and continue to do,” he added.
He further indicated that the communication of the incident that happened on July 6 was behind time as most of the runaways would have already moved out of the country.
Meanwhile, Following the jailbreak of alleged Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria, Ghana’s security personnel are on high alert. According to the Ghana Immigration Service, it is expected that the majority of the escapees will seek to enter Ghana via both authorised and unapproved channels, given the sub-present region’s movement patterns of Nigerians.
By: By: Gyamfuah Owusu-Ackom
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