By Demola Akinyemi, Ilorin

A member of the Board of Trustees of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND),Engr Nurudeen Adeyemi has cautioned Nigerian leaders against compromising decisions of national interest, particularly when it has to do with protection of lives and properties, noting that they must always consider national interest because Nigeria is bigger than anyone.

The security expert who also nudged the Federal government to develop an indigenous aerospace technology as one of the steps to tackle incessant banditry and cases of insurgency in parts of the country asked authorities to attack the financial capacity of Kidnappers by devising a means to ensure that they won’t be able to spend proceeds from ransome payments.

Speaking with journalists during a media parliament of the Kwara state council of the NUJ in Ilorin , the Aerospace Engineer, said that Nigeria cannot be said to be a truly independent nation without an independent aerospace technology.

He also tasked the federal government to make use of talents among graduates of aerospace universities in the country.

“Rome was not built in a day, we know. Nigeria needs to be serious with aerospace technology and industry. Yes, we have competing development demands and low financial power, but with commitment, resilience, we should get it done.”he said .

Engineer Balogun, who said that many countries of the world with similar history and pedigree with Nigeria have surpassed her in aerospace technology world, added that political will should be deployed to tackle inherent challenges in aviation industry.

“Aviation is a small component of aerospace business or industry”, he said, adding that one of the challenges of aviation industry is outdated equipment.

“Nigeria has no shortage of qualified and experienced pilots and ground staff. What we lack is modern equipment, for instance, landing equipment, among others. There are ageing aircraft but with no equipment. This is more so, when we have low operation and maintenance cost.

“That’s why we have delays at airports when we have sudden engine problems, especially, in mid air, leading to emergency landing. Or when we can’t fly in this part of the world due to bad weather (harmattan) or absence of landing equipment”.

He also attributed a surge in criminality in parts of Nigeria to security lapses abroad, saying instability in Libya has helped fuel an upsurge of violent actors now operating inside the country.

Adeyemi explained that successes recorded by past and present administrations in some theatres of insurgency only displaced criminals, who have since spread to other states, including Kwara.

“Unfortunately, the success of the Buhari’s administration in the northeast, and the President Bola Tinubu in the northwest, is like having a room full of cockroaches and taking off the light. They scattered those places and now they are in Kwara,” he told journalists.

Adeyemi said security agencies were determined to make Kwara safe. “We would make Kwara a safe place and we would find them and kill them by the Grace of God,” he added.

Expounding on the financial dynamics that sustain criminal networks, the TETFUND official argued that the monetary trails behind gun-running and ransom payments are often difficult to link to the final perpetrators.

“Our bastards have grown up. Even if we manage to capture some of these people through financial transaction, you cannot really link them to the end of result,” he said.

Adeyemi therefore urged authorities to attack the financial capacity of criminal groups, saying denying them access to funds would discourage further criminality.

“There is a component of people the Nigerian law deal with quietly by stripping them of their financial resources in one way or the other so that they will not be able to perpetrate evil. If you deny them the ability to be able to use that money if they get it, they’ll say what’s the point of trying to labour themselves and not be able to spend the money. That’s why you find stack of cash around those guys,” he said.