GROWING INSECURITY IN NIGERIA:Big nations don’t care about what comes into small countries —Warikoru

WITH his calm looks, he could pass for someone in the corporate world than a security agent. Beneath this harmless and calculative image, lies intelligence which held this reporter spellbound during this interview. Little wonder his positions on arms influx shed light on some grey areas on the issue.

For Comptroller Augustine Warikoru, Customs Area Comptroller of Tin Can Island, information sharing is vital to the fight against arms influx. Warikoru, spoke to Charles KUMOLU on issues surrounding the arms seizure recently.

Lately, we have witnessed the influx of all sizes of arms into the country. This has led to general fear in Nigeria and your command is known to have made most of these seizures. What can you say is responsible for this because  we gathered that it has never been like this before?

Human behaviour cannot change over night and I will not say that such things were not happening before.

Warikoru:Developed nations should show concern about shipments from their country

And I cannot say it would not happen, just as they cannot change overnight. That is how we cannot say that people just started importing arms in the year 2010. I think we were just lucky and because we shared information among ourselves. Importantly, people who volunteered information helped us a lot. It also highlights the need for people to work together in crime fighting.

Important information on such issues should not be hoarded. Information can come from any source and any information is good enough. Even after processing any information and you find it not good enough, you can keep it.

For instance, if someone tells you that you are going to find arms and ammunition in a particular container and you don’t find any, you can still keep the information. May be another container coming from that same source may have what you are looking for.

So, it is very important that every Nigerian get involve in volunteering information, it should not be left for security agencies alone. That is only how we can curb the crime.

In June last year, an adhoc agency, National Task Force, NATFORCE, was inaugurated to compliment the efforts of security agents at bursting this kind of crime. Although the agency is at its teething stage, would you say that NATFORCE has been a boost to your efforts at cracking this arms proliferation?

I have not got any information from that agency, so I would not say that they had input in the seizures we made lately.  But when we talk of information, we are talking of the one from abroad and people in and around the port.

You cannot come from outside when you don’t have the wherewithal to say you can find arms in container ABC. You need to know to be able to give the right information. So far, I can’t say they have complemented our efforts, but I believe that as time goes on they would. And that depends on how they work and their source of information.

What do you make of the assumption in some quarters that the absence of comprehensive international legal framework contributes to the proliferation of arms in Nigeria. We gathered that this situation makes it possible for people to freely import deadly weapons from other countries?

It is not true. It is illegal to bring in any form of arm and ammunination without the backing of the law. Police can bring in their arms, the military can, the customs can as well. That one is allowed because they use it to fight crime or perhaps the constitution guaranteed it.

I can’t travel abroad and purchase gun because it is easy to purchase one and come to Nigeria and say it is my personal effect. You must be conversant with the laws of the land. There is appropriate legal framework. We don’t allow it here in Nigeria. You can’t transfer the laws of other countries into Nigeria because our laws are sacrosanct.

Reports had it that the massive seizure that was made here originated from Iran. Are there no laws that make any country where arms are originating from, to contact the intended destination of the consignment. This question is against the backdrop of believe  that had such law been existing, Iran would have notified Nigeria about the arms that were being imported into the country?

I don’t think it has to do with any bilateral relations. But it is a very simple thing. For instance, if you are coming in from America and you are bringing arms llegally, you will declare it. If it is illegal, you discover that they will not declare it.

The ones we have found so far were not declared. Even the big seizure at Apapa was not declared. It was building materials that was declared. That shows that something is wrong. There is no way America will ship guns to you without telling you. When the military is buying arms and ammunition, it is also declared and they get their end users certificate for it.

That will be processed by the National Security Adviser’s office. These documents are channelled properly and you know it is a legal thing.  But when you stumble on such things in the course of examination or through intelligence, then you will know it has nothing to do with any agreement anywhere. I am sure they did not sign it on the other side.

Importantly, I want to ask why countries are not interested in what they ship to other countries, especially from the first world. Why are they not interested in what leaves their country, but they care about what comes into their country.

That is a big question they have to answer, because the two containers we found here with arms came in from a world power. The seizure I was involved with when I was at PTML came in from same nation. But when you take in one piece of gun into that country, the noise they will make will make it look as if you want to sink the entire globe. So that is the big question I want them to answer. These are questions we need to look into for us get out of this mess.

We are trying and doing everything humanly possible that we apprehend these arms. When the legal ones come in, they go under escort to the government agencies that need them. On the illegal ones, if they succeed in beating us, they go into town and use the guns for whatever they want to use it for.

The importer is usually the prime suspect in this issue we are talking about. We gathered that as required by clearing regulations, the importer is supposed to be around for physical examination of consignment, but the reverse is th case.

And sometimes, the importers send the consignment and the bill of laden to Nigeria, thereby leaving the agent to face the process. If this is true, why is such practice allowed?

What we know here is that if you import, you may choose to come or send your agent. Your agent stands for you. If you want to do self clearance, the law permits you to come down and clear by yourself. The container will be opened in the presence of the agent, who is standing in for you.

If we find something illegal in the container, we will pick him because he is representing you. Then he is now expected to produce the owner of the consignment. When he does that and we find out that there was no complicity, he will be released while the owner of the consignment. would face the law after investigations. It is allowed for you to commission someone to come and stand in for you.

It was recently reported that 75 per cent of illegal arms in Africa are in Nigeria. Don’t you think that this scary statistics is an indictment on the security agencies that are supposed to man the borders, seaports and airports, especially the Customs service?

No! Like I told you earlier, the job of policing Nigeria and its borders is not for one security agency alone. It is the job of every Nigerian. Are we saying that the man, who choose to import arms illegally into his country is not liable? Are we saying we are going to blame the National Security Adviser or everybody along the security line for not being able to know  the time the arms came in?

You cannot fight people’s intentions, just as you cannot go into their minds to know what they are planning to do. We can only work on information. And if you know someone who has such illegal consignments, you are duty bound to declare it. That will make our job easier because we are talking about the security of you and I.

Therefore, I don’t think it is right to blame any security agency. I don’t think that a customs officer will look the other way when he discovers arms during physical examination, because he does not know if the gun will be pointed at him when it gets into the streets. It is not a thing to joke with. With all sense of responsibility, anything illegal is illegal.

The fact that we have been able to make some seizures here does not mean that it is only here that these people use. I would say that we have been lucky to record most seizures in this command. What I only ask  from other agencies, is cooperation, collaboration and proper sharing of information. With that it becomes easy to fight any kind of crime.

Can we know how positioned your men are for the challenges posed by this arms proliferation, especially in view of public perception that the issue may not be unconnected with the 2011 general elections?

We are well prepared. We know that some people get desperate when elections are approaching. And because of this desperation, there is no limit to what they can plan or what they wish to do.  As long as we are desperate, we are alert to our responsibility because we know the dangers of having these arms in our midst.

So my men are very well sensitized, we carry out our examinations properly to ensure that we make seizures. The scanners are there to assist us. And while we do physical examination, we do our very best to ensure that we are equal to the task. And that is why we have been a bit successful.

I wouldn’t say hundred percent successful and I believe  every other person in other commands are doing what they are expected to do. We are well prepared, we are ready and you can see that in the ports so far. We actually have some containers on surveillance and I am sure we will be successful.