DEBATES have not abated about the 1 October bombings that rocked Nigeria ‘s 50th independence anniversary. The debates about what happened, and what should have happened, and all that should have been done to avert the blasts are all with hindsight.

Most of them have added nothing significant to resolving how Nigeria came to this lack of innocence. The issues that have been generated have naturally questioned the efficiency of Nigeria ’s security, it is expected and as we have learnt from other climes, each time there is such a situation, the security agencies would be in focus.

Our own State Security Service has not been spared. It has spent the past few days answering to a sceptical public about how it was unable to stop the bomb blasts that have become a major blur on the national ability to protect itself.

These concerns are an indication of the importance the public attaches to the work it expects the SSS to do.

It is also instructive that more is expected of the SSS than other security agencies, which the public has not blamed about the incident in Abuja .

In a clear departure from former practices, the SSS has been briefing the public about the blasts, including efforts it made to ensure the events at the Eagles Square ran without hitches. Yet the bombs went off.

The SSS detailed explanations of its efforts, of course, would not let out details that would put its future operations in jeopardy. There are explanations that have been provided that still do not add up and these give the impression that enough was not done to avert the security breach.

With the freshness of the matter and the fact that investigations are still on, there is a limit to what the SSS can say without impairing its works. Nigerians are getting used to having explanations from the SSS. They will demand more and they should get it.

More debates would be heard now that the cases resulting from the blasts are in court. What, however, remains paramount to many Nigerians is ensuring that similar incidents are avoided. The sense of insecurity that results from the blasts is overwhelming. If it had been in other cities, without the often assumed impenetrability of Abuja , it would have been understandable.

From SSS accounts, “during the operations that lasted from 0215 hours to 0630 hours of the same date (1 October), a total of nine abandoned vehicles were towed away. Of these, two were near the SSS headquarters; two facing the villa gate and the National Assembly; two close to the Police Headquarters, one at the Eagle Square ; and two around Apo Legislative Quarters. They were all towed away.

Subsequently, the Federal Road Commission, FRSC, and the Vehicle Inspection Office, VIO, were co-opted into the operations, to move around the Federal Capital Territory , FCT towing away abandoned vehicles.

These efforts which lasted till the morning of 1st October, 2010 saw 65 abandoned  vehicles moved. It is worthy of note that out of the seven  vehicles removed from the Three Arms Zone, four are yet to be collected.”

The SSS admitted that it shared intelligence with some foreign organisations and took precautions to prevent the blasts at Eagle Square. That the blasts occurred outside the Square, it said was an indication of the success of its efforts. Nigerians are unlikely to agree with this. But the events at Eagle Square need to be put in perspective for a proper appreciation of the actions SSS took. What facilities are available to SSS and others in relation to the consistently changing nature of global terrorism?

Nigerians are unlikely to know what happened. Investigations and reviews of the performance of the security agencies, which the SSS is just one, may not be available to the public. However, the reviews must be objective enough to admit that the issues that led to the blasts on independence day are not matters to be settled by sophistication of security equipment.

We condemn propagation of terrorism as a worthy manner of eliciting attention for any issue, no matter how pressing it is. We also ask governments to take the well being of Nigerians with more seriousness than is currently the position.

The security of Nigerians lies in more hands than those of the SSS. The current recriminations over the bomb blasts could mislead the direction of attention on our security.

If the SSS thinks that it did it best, it would have reasons for thinking so, but the issue remains that Nigerians have higher expectations of the SSS. It is not an indication of loss of faith in the organisation, but a further hint of its importance to Nigerians.

How the SSS understands this would determine, to a large extent, how it handles its subsequent assignments and relates to the public.