Ifeanyi Okezie, videographer who recently deployed his drone to capture a man who stole his laptop in Lagos, has expressed concern over the way the Nigerian military handle their fighter drones.
According to Okezie, there are indications that they do not know how to use such well, .
In an interview in ‘Sunday Punch’, where he explained hosw he used his drone, Okezie noted that the policemen who eventually worked with him after he had spotted the area the thief was, were surprised at how he employed the drone.
He said: “I know the Federal Government bought some drones for the military, but those are more expensive (than mine). Those are bigger drones; they can last longer in the air and do all sorts of things that this (my) drone cannot do.
If well managed, even (just) one of those (military) drones can solve a lot of problems in Nigeria. But I don’t think they even use them often or know how to use them. They need knowledge on how to use the drones to tackle crimes and insecurity. It’s a problem. My kind of drone is smaller, yet it can do a lot.”
On how he recovered his laptop, Okezie said the thief had to produce it from a kiosk in the Lekki/Ikota area where the incident happened:
“It was really difficult for us to locate it on our own. I lost the signal six or seven times. Eventually, I had a signal and I saw him entering what looked like a kiosk in a slum close to a canal. That was the last place I saw him and then the signal was gone, because it was very far from where we took off. I lost the signal entirely. At that point, I brought the drone down.
By the time the drone landed, my friend had already contacted the police. They came around and they asked, ‘How do you know where he is?’ I showed them the footage; they saw it and told us that we should get into their van, saying they would take us and keep asking people for directions along the way.
We went to a couple of places and they kept on directing us. The only landmark we had was a gas cylinder by the roadside. So, we kept asking, ‘Where is cooking gas sold in this area?’ People continued giving us directions until we got there. Immediately we got to the canal and where that gas cylinder was, we were able to follow the narrow road to where the suspect was. When we got there, he was coming out of a kiosk and that was how we caught him.”
