simplyolat Federal Government has disclosed that it would
establish Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) databank
with a view to deploying it towards tracking
criminal elements, especially terrorists across
Nigeria.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama,
spoke in Abuja while briefing journalists during the
ongoing Second Regional Security Summit.
Onyeama revealed that of almost two million
internally-displaced persons (IDPs) in the country,
about 6, 000 children (below five years) have been
separated from their parents, adding that such
databank would also help to track their parents.
"We have within the country nearly two million
internally displaced persons, a real tragedy which
we have to address.
"We also have about 6, 000 children under the age
of five, who are separated from their parents and
homes. We have to look at how to address that
human catastrophe.
"What we are looking at is the use of DNA to try
and match those children with parents. The DNA
databank is really what we are looking at and we
could ultimately extend the databank to the whole
country because we know that for a lot of
countries, it is through their comprehensive DNA
databank that they use in tracking terrorists and
that is also going to help us in intelligence
gathering."
He added that the summit would also institute a
post-conflict development programme and put in
place mechanisms that would ensure that the
military successees in the North East are
consolidated through civil programmes by winning
hearts of the people through reconstruction,
rehabilitation and resettlement of the IDPs.