In the thick of issue facing Nigeria today, the recent death of Police Sergeant Sunday Badang (Anti-Bomb Unit) is another evidence that the collective elements needed for proper functioning of our society are rotten.
What led to the death of this illustrious citizen is but an aftermath of insensitive, mismanagement.
Bomb disposal is never a child's play hence anti bomb squads are trained to glittering perfection. The case is not the same with what happened on Tuesday 14, February, 2012 when Sergeant Sunday approached an IED casually, gun dangling on his neck and a rod in his hand. On getting to the bomb site, he poke the IED with the rod then his hand without any investigation.
Within seconds, the ground vibrated, sending the sergeant's shattered body in all directions.
"Respect your enemy" is a popular saying among army elites, this is because both side might have undergo the same training, use same weapon and may be employing same tactics. In the case of bombs, especially IED, crude methods which had abuse the internationally agreed colour code used in bombs now make bomb disarming a difficult job so, the reason why a Plan B is never out of any bomb disarming units.
BOMB DISPOSING SUIT
The use of bomb disposal suit increase the bomb technician's survival rate by improving the fragment protection characteristics of the suit without increasing overall weight. It has been proven that the greatest threat faced in a blast situation is the threat of fragments of different sizes and shapes tearing into the human body at supersonic velocities.
According to www.securityprousa.com/bodipr.html, an EOD suit is sold for $17,985.00 and that is the costlier ones, there is a Light EOD Suit that goes for $7,950.
BOMB CONTAINMENT SYSTEM
Without going through the rigorous process of disarming a bomb that might have false colour wire which will ultimately lead to the death of the anti-bomb personnel, there is also the option of the Universal Containment System (UCS), or blast tent,
The UCS is designed to be placed over a suspect Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and then filled with CASCAD foam to mitigate explosions, decontaminate hazardous materials and encapsulate Radiological particles.
The CASCAD foam has the capabilities to suppress a blast, neutralize any Chemical or Biological (C/B) agents and encapsulate Radiological particles for safe disposal. It also come with a ballistic blanket cover can be placed over the Enclosure as a precaution against fragmentation.
With a security budget running into millions of dollars, it is surprising that the Nigerian Government can't provide the Bomb Squad Police Officers with the proper equipment for Explosive Ordnance Disposal.
An unwarranted death of a citizen thus raised questions such as,
Why will an anti-Bomb 'expert' be sent into action without proper gear?
If the police officer is truly in the bomb disposing unit, is this the procedure of disarming a bomb? (poking with a rod)
Why is there no emergency unit on ground?
Like every other sector that is begging for attention, neglect of these issues may ultimately lead the country to attainment of a fail state.
why? oh why? why is this still happening in present day Nigeria? with almost a trillion Naira budgeted in 2012 to enhance security and safety of the Nigerian populace, why cant we have basic bomb shied gadgets to safeguard our security personnel?
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