By: Shehu Bello Olayinka

Nigeria is said to have four intelligence gathering agencies: the State Security Services, the National Intelligence Agency, the Director of Military Intelligence, also known as Defence Intelligence Agency, and the Force Intelligence Bureau, the intelligence gathering arm of the police, are all saddled with responsibilities of gathering information for the country. But recent happening, have shown either these agencies are non-functioning or don’t really exist.

Declaring Ahmad Salkida and two others, speaks a lot about this country. It shows that the way we do things, are not in a professional manner, but lubberly. Knowing Salkida doesn’t reside in Nigeria, the other two could have easily been invited, before having their names published on the pages of newspapers as criminals.

In a sane clime, information provided by Salkida, would be worked on in knowing the whereabouts of the group and the kidnapped schoolgirls and not by going after the information giver provider.

"Always be objectives and not subjective”, are part of what I was told as a trainee journalist in school, and also by journalists that I have been fortunate to come across. Journalism, has never been and will not be about getting information from one source without also interviewing the other, even if the other is an enemy of the State.

If by not having proper knowledge or training in handling sensitive security cases, I know some American films had been revealing how Spy agencies operate without blowing the vuvuzela.

Nigeria, as a country atimes irritate me with the way things are done. Salkida as a journalist is entitled and has a right to communicate with the opposing group. What should bother those agencies should be how to utilise Salkida’s information that are in public domain or work clandestine towards knowing the where about of the Chibok schoolgirls with Salkida, if he wishes or that if he is aware of their locations.

Hamid Mir, a Pakistani born Journalist, has interviewed late Osama Bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda ex-leader trice, same with the late Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and other notable journalists, had done so and are still doing the same, and which information gotten are published for public consumption not that it was sent to the government, as our own wished it to be.

Notable men, have acted as spy knowingly or unknowingly in helping their countries defeat their enemies: John Croft, fluent in six languages, was instrumental in aiding Arthur Wesley defeat Napoleon. Andrew Dalgleish, St. John Philby, Ian Fleming, these were all people who at a point or the other, interviewed the enemy for public consumption, yet gave information on the same enemy, to the people.