FG to track terrorists using DNA data bank

folarin okunola

May 17, 2016 10:28 AM

At the moment, Nigeria does not have a national finger print database to match extracted fingerprints from crime scenes, terror-hit sites and so on.

Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Various media reports confirm that the Federal Government is set to establish a DNA data-bank and it aims to deploy it in tracking criminal elements, especially terrorists in the country.

However, a national fingerprint or DNA database cannot be done without a national registration of citizens and other people living in the country.

Speaking at the sidelines of the 2nd Regional Security Summit in Abuja, Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of Foreign Affairs said, "What we are looking at is the use of DNA to try and match those children with parents. The DNA data-bank is really what we are looking at.

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“And we could ultimately extend the data-bank to the whole country because we know that for a lot of countries, it is through their comprehensive DNA data-bank that they use in tracking terrorists and that is also going to help us in intelligence gathering," he added.

The minister also stated that the summit would also institute a post-conflict development program, and put mechanisms in place that would ensure that the military gains in the north east of the country are consolidated through civil programs by winning the hearts of the people through reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement of the IDPs.

The Boko Haram insurgency has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions even with Nigeria heading up a multinational joint task force, which was set up in March 2015, along with Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin.

Earlier this month, Nigerian troops commenced large scale operations to flush out Boko Haram terrorists from their Sambisa forest hideout in restive Borno, north-eastern Nigeria.

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