By Kingsley Nwezeh
The federal government yesterday attributed the unending violence in Nigeria to rising global terrorism and armed struggle in the Sahel region, which constituted a threat to Nigeria.
Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Dingiyadi, said at a summit with the theme: “Strengthening Inter-agency Collaboration and Organisational Effectiveness for the Federal Ministry of Police Affairs and Related Agencies” in Abuja that the situation threatened the internal security of the nation.
The summit was jointly organised by the Federal Republic of Germany, the Ministry of Police Affairs and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).
The minister spoke just as the Resident Representative of German Foundation, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Dr. Vladimir Kreck, said only collaboration of security agencies in Nigeria would resolve the challenge of insecurity in Nigeria.
The minister said the spread of global terrorism and arms struggle in the Sahel region had spilled into the country, thereby threatening the peace of the nation.
“This changing crime pattern arising from upscale in global terrorism, increasing arms struggle in the Sahel region stimulate threats to national security and compromise the ideal nation-state as postulated in the 1948 treaty of Westphalia, which emphasised sovereignty, territorialism and the ability of government to protect the state of its citizens”, he stated.
In his presentation, Country Representative of KAS, Dr. Vladimir Kreck, said the German Foundation, in association with the German ruling party, the Christian Democratic Union, recently conducted a review of the legal provisions of the various security agencies with Nigerian experts.
“This review showed, among others, that ineffective joint approaches to curb crime and terrorism as well as inter-agency rivalry have been caused by overlapping or conflicting mandates.
“To solve this problem, we have commenced strategic engagement with the executive and National Assembly to discuss reforms that can create a more effective security apparatus in Nigeria”, he added.
Proffering solutions to the security situation in the country, he said:
“Considering the present security challenges in Nigeria and the overstretching of security agencies in Nigeria, it becomes clear that neither the armed forces nor the police or any other security agency alone will be able to bring security and peace to the country. Only joint, collaborative approaches will bring the prospects of success.”
