By Ishola Balogun
The President of Association of Industrial and Safety Security Operators of Nigeria, (AISSON), Dr. Ona Ekhomu has called on the Federal Government to urgently design and implement the National Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Prevention Initiative in order to save lives and property from incessant Boko Haram bombings.

Reacting to the incessant killings of innocent Nigerians, the latest being the bomb blast at the Nyanya Bus Terminus in Abuja, Ekhomu said the national bomb prevention initiative was long overdue as citizens who are enrolled in the security programme would form a bulwark of defense against criminal bombings.

Ekhomu-Ona

Ekhomu, who is also the Chairman of Trans-World Security said the security awareness program on IEDs would enable citizens identify suspicious objects which may be bombs and also identify suspicious vehicles bearing improvised explosive devices. Ekhomu said that bombers (throwers or planters) also exhibit suspicious behaviours which citizens could detect if they were educated through the national citizens awareness program.

The security expert said that another core component of the program is reporting channels or how to alert the authorities about suspicious objects or persons. “Citizens must be given short code telephone numbers to call and report suspicious objects and movements” he said. The call centers should be staffed with professional, highly- trained personnel who can skillfully interact with callers and get all relevant information about suspicious objects and persons. The call center would then dispatch the police to secure the sites.

Ekhomu said that the office of the National Security Adviser should create a unit known as office of IED Prevention Programs to coordinate the operation of the program nationally.

The world renowned security expert advised elected and appointed political officials to stay away from bomb scenes.

He said that at a blast scene, there were several items of evidence that could tell bomb detectives the type of device used, the chemical composition of the device, the size of the device, the probable blast load, even the signature of the bomb-maker. He stressed that rushing to the blast site with their retinue of aides would result in massive contamination of the blast scene.

Ekhomu said that Boko Haram fighters could take out political office holders though the use of secondary devices. He advised public officials against contaminating the crime scenes and also putting themselves at grave risk from “double tap” bomb attacks which Boko Haram has carried out in the past. He advised that bomb scenes should be left to the bomb experts to sift evidence from in order to detect, prosecute and punish criminal bombers.

Ekhomu said that while “good samaritans’ could help evacuate the injured and the dying from blast sites ahead of the arrival of government emergency personnel, deceased individuals should be left on the blast scene to enable accurate census of fatalities.

The Chartered Security professional in West Africa, said that the 36 states should adopt the National IED Prevention Initiative and set up State IED Prevention Initiative, adding that safety of the lives of citizens was the primary mission of government. He condoled with families of victims of the bomb blast.