Senator Iroegbu in Abuja
The federal government has charged the defence, security and intelligence agencies to either come up with novel, actionable and effective strategies on sustainable solution to the burgeoning security challenges in the country or be sanctioned.
The Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Muhammad Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd), gave the riot act yesterday while declaring open the 2016 Defence Advisers/Attaches (DAs) Annual Conference tagged: “Harnessing the Potentials of Defence Attache System for improved National Security in Nigeria”, at the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) Headquarters, Abuja.
To this end, Dan-Ali warned the DAs and concerned authorities that the federal government would no longer tolerate any form of shoddiness and lack of creativity in handling of national security matters.
He called for innovation, noting that “given the complexity and uncertainty of today’s security environment, our defence architecture and thought process would have to significantly to provide sustainable military and political outcomes.
The minister stated that the conference will provide the opportunity “to generate meaningful dialogue to determine assessment of strategic landscape…and the prospect to harness the best ideas and innovations for a comprehensive improvement to our joint readiness and the capability to project decisive force against our adversaries.”
He noted that “the war against terror in the North-east, sabotage warfare wage on strategic economic installations in the Niger Delta, challenges to the nation’s sovereignty by non-state and sub-state actors as well as widespread herdsmen/farmers attacks within communities throughout the country, together constitute the biggest, overt national security threat matrix that Nigeria has ever faced at the same time since our nation was created.”
Dan-Ali said added to these national security challenges, is the economic recession the country is currently facing, as well as the global security environment, which is also under relentless and vicious attacks by terrorists and criminals who are opposed to the existing world order.
Therefore, he said, the consequences of these emerging scenarios necessitated our military professionals to articulate new and effective means of tackling these prevailing challenges in the face of reduced resources.
He said to achieve our national quest for peace, security, stability and prosperity, our military roles now transcend to the old school notion of war fighting and elevate a dynamic enterprise that contains and eliminates threats from a position of strength.
The minister however, emphasised that this desired transformation must come with continuous engagement with Nigeria’s allies and international partners with the DAs being at the vanguard of the defence diplomacy that would ensure the maximum utilisation of this collaboration and cooperation.
In the same vein, the Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI), Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Usman, said that the DA system “is a unique phase to identify, articulate strategies and shape the future of defence strategies.”
According to Usman, this will take Nigeria on the right trajectory to sustainable peace and security.
“Our idea is to have a system that is motivate, prudent and performance oriented. This reality in security environment has rendered obsolete the old ways of doing things for national security,” he said.
Also, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Sen. Ahmed Lawan, called for new and effective measures to address the myriad of security threats facing the country.
Lawan said the DAs are one of the ways and personnel we use to develop these strategies especially from the international arena.
