UNODC Confab for Security Agencies Urges Improved Synergy among Operatives

By Bennett Oghifo

The Federal Goernment has been urged to improve and consolidate existing synergy among operatives of various security agencies in the country to enhance their performance in defensive national interest.

This clarion call was made by participants at a three-day workshop on ‘Enhancing Inter-Agency Cooperation in Border Management to Address Smuggling of Migrants’, organized by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) with funding by the European Union. It took place in Calabar, Cross River State, from 13 – 15th December, this year.

Setting the tone of the workshop, UNODC’s Outreach and Communication Officer, Country Office for Nigeria, Mr. Sylvester Atere said, “The overall objective of the project is to strengthen the national capacity to better combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) in order to maximize the development potential of migration. This will be achieved through the creation of a coordinated, synergized, and comprehensive response at the national, state and local levels that target both TIP and SOM.”

Atere said the project specifically aims to achieve: strengthened sectoral framework and coordination on TIP and SOM; improved service delivery and support to victims of TIP, particularly those who are living positively with HIV/AIDS; expanded capacities of NAPTIP, NIS, NGOs and other actors involved in the sector; increased knowledge on TIP and SOM and their impact with a view to reducing individuals selecting irregular migration for travel abroad in targeted communities.

The participants, who were from the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Federal Ministry of Justice (FMOJ), and the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), recommended “That government intensifies on existing synergy among security agencies by organizing joint training programmes across all the cadres of the services.”

The participants emphasised the need for stronger coorporation and intelligence sharing among the security agencies in the country. They lauded the crucial roles played by UNODC, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the European Union and other donor agencies, urging them not to donate alone, but also to ensure the judicious use of the items or facilities donated.

Also in the communiqué, issued at the end of the workshop, they urged the government to harmonise salaries of security operatives to prevent the notion of superiority caused by salary disparity, stating, however, that allowances may vary, based on the nature of the function performed by each security agency.

On ease of guarding the nation’s borders, these operatives, who team-up to man these outposts, said there was need for the acquisition of capital intensive border management facilitates to ensure maximum security of these borders. 

The office of the NSA, they said should consider it an urgent matter to organise periodic forum where Heads of Agencies involved in border operations would share ideas, experiences and challenges associated with their respective operations at the borders.

To also enhance synergy among agencies and operatives, they said there was need for “inclusion of duties of other sister security agencies in training modules of each agency for proper appreciation of the duties and functions of these other agencies, their structure and ranking system to avoid clashes and overlap of duties. The various Acts that established the agencies should be introduced to trainees.”

They advised the Nigerian Immigration Service to de-emphasise the duty of issuance of passport and post its personnel to other areas relevant to their professionalism. Officers of these agencies were also advised to get close to their juniors, as this would ease information and work-flow.

“There is too much and needless stiffness between officers and their juniors. This creates serious disconnect between the top echelon of the security service and those at the lower rung of the ladder, such that complaints and concerns emanating from the operational areas are not dutifully reckoned with,” they said.

They recommended the use of environmental friendly measures such as installation of CCTV, acquisition and use of light aircrafts, and drones for area surveillance; provision of modern communication gadgets such as satellite phone, auto-gate, light scanning machines, remote sensing devices, hand-held parcel scanner, itemizing machine, gun boats for effective marine patrol of all marine patrol unit of the security agencies working at the nation’s borders.

Border communities were not left out in the deliberations, at the end of which they stated the need for “deliberate and constant engagement of border communities as critical stakeholders in border management. This should be done through sensitisation of the locals to the dangers of aiding irregular migration.”

An equally important issue they raised was the need for Nigeria to have “a specific migration policy, which will serve as a guiding principle for agencies saddled with the responsibilities of migration management.”

They observed that irregular migrants communicate with the use of the social media and thus advised security agencies to leverage on the opportunity presented by the social media as a veritable instrument of intelligence gathering on trafficking in persons (TIP) and smuggling of migrants (SOM).

Also, they advised agencies saddled with the responsibility of the administering the nation’s identification documents to maintain highest level of shrewdness to ensure these sensitive documents do not fall on wrong hands.

According to them, “There is need for training and retraining of officers involved in investigation of the offences of TIP and SOM in order to ensure due diligence in prosecution of suspects, trafficking in person and smuggling of migrant.”

They also recommended a holistic natural re-awakening programme to be championed by the National Orientation Agency. “The sensitisation programme should urge Nigerians to begin to speak positive of their country and to put the overriding interest of the country ahead of narrow tribal or religious sentiments.

All stakeholders, (NIS, NAPTIP, UNODC and intervention agencies), they said should create proper awareness on the newly enacted immigration Act, 2015, especially Part VIII to XVII of Section 61 – 101 that dwell on SOM.

The government, they said should also make conscious effort to study digital foot print of traffickers in persons and smugglers of migrants, and called for a centralised and harmonised data base that would serve the needs of all security agencies in Nigeria.

It was also recommended that Nigerians should, as a deliberate policy, learn to speak French. French, they said was important for global diplomacy and because Nigeria’s immediate neighbours are four Francophone countries. “We must speak French as second official language.

“NIS is challenged to take the leadership role by establishing language school where French and other relevant international languages would be learned.”

Participants at the 3-day workshop deliberated on: Curbing Corruption Amongst Public Officials in Smuggling of Migrants; Border Security and Trans-border Crimes: The Nigeria Experience; Registration of Participants & Recap of previous day’s activities; Enhancing Inter-Agency Cooperation in Border Management – Bridging Inter and Intra Systemic Conflicts; Curbing Corruption Amongst Public Officials in Smuggling of Migrants; Border Security and Trans-border Crimes: The Nigeria Experience; Protocol and Conventions on Smuggling of Migrants; and The Legal framework in tackling Smuggling of Migrants in Nigeria: An Overview of the Immigration Act 2015

Others were: The Role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) System in Managing Smuggling of Migrants; The National Security Question of Irregular Migration; Corruption and Smuggling of Migrants; and Economics of Smuggling of Migrants.

The overall objective of the workshop is to strengthen the national capacity to better combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) in order to maximize the development potential of migration.

Thus, to achieve the objective, participants explored inter-agencies relationship among the security operatives in Nigeria, and it was noted that inter agency rivalry is a factor affecting cooperation among the security services, which in turn undermines the security of the nation.

They also agreed that over-lapping duties and functions not being clearly spelt out was one of the causes of inter-agency rivalry; that inadequate budgetary allocation also contributes to inter-agency friction among security apparatus in the country.

They acknowledged the expansive and extensive nature of Nigerian borderline, which gives room for irregular migration; examined issues bordering on recruitment, promotion, and development, which are needed to be improved upon.

Stressed that inadequate welfare packages for public officials, especially in the security circle is the main cause of corruption and sharp practices.