Chiamaka Ozulumba
Nigeria has long teetered on the precipice of failure and the federal government has been struggling to provide a safe environment for citizens and businesses to strive.
Nigeria is seen as a failed state despite the notion that the peace and prosperity of Africa and preventing the spread of disorder and militancy around the globe depend on a stronger Nigeria as the giant of Africa.
In the last few decades, Nigeria has been in a situation where the government has seemingly lost total control on the guarantee of security for lives and properties which is no doubt, one of the major attributes of a failed state.
Common characteristics of failed states include ongoing civil violence, corruption, crime, poverty, illiteracy, and crumbling infrastructure.
Therefore, as part of efforts to ensure that peace is restored, the National Association of Liberated Tigers (NALT) will on August 26 and 27 hold another virtual International Conference with the theme: “Nigeria’s Insecurity Challenges and the Reframing of Social Justice: From Cynicism to Optimism.”
This is in line with series of conventions and conferences held in the past to discuss major challenges such insecurity, Police reform, Reframing of Social Justice.
The keynote address will be delivered by High Chief Emeka JP Obegolu, President, Pan Africa Lawyers Union (PALU) & Immediate Past President of Institute for Chartered Mediators and Conciliators in Nigeria.
The focus of the virtual International conference will be to address the current exigencies of peace and security in Nigeria and the influence of the countries in the Sahel region on the stability of the country require a systematic approach.
The International Secretary of NALT Club International, Erhabor Elaiho, disclosed that the security challenges in the country in the wake of emergent phenomenon of ethnic cum political and religious violence, extremism, cultism, armed robbery, disrespect and general erosion of cultural values are all pointers to the need for comprehensive long-term strategies.
According to him, “It is within this context that NALT is organising this timely conference as part of its contribution to nation building.
“Over the years, NALT has evolved to meet changing and challenging dynamics of social justice and positioned itself as a force for positive change.
“In addition to its growing influence and footprint in building an egalitarian society, it has expanded its focus to include contributing to national cohesion, peace and security, leveraging on the varied expertise of its members and innovative strategies it adopts.”
He also called on the federal government to immediately take steps to ensure that the civil law enforcement agencies perform their statutory duties of protecting lives and properties of Nigerians within the national and international laws of engagement.
“It should also have due respect for human rights and the sanctity of human lives while pursuing dialogue with aggrieved parties.
“NALT, in line with its fundamental principles of social justice and upholding of human dignity through non-violence decrees, strongly condemns all the killings of human beings and destruction of properties going on in the country.
NALT Club is an international non profit men’s organisation formed to strengthen and improve communities through pursuing social justice and fair play, by advocating for all people, regardless of background and promoting equity and anti-oppression and promoting accountability and stability in leadership, governance and public service.
Pic Caption: Members at the last NALT conference
Private Security Professionals Seek Synergy, Policy Advocacy for Improved Practice
Nume Ekeghe
Professional security practitioners under the auspices of ASIS International advocated for convergence of interventions and vital policy advocacy as keys to revolutionising security practice and improving the standards within the industry in Nigeria.
Speaking recently at the Lagos ASIS Chapter 206 retreat and leadership conference at Epe, Lagos State, the Chapter Chairman, Mr. Peter Okoloh, affirmed the need for industry-wide collaboration that will result in coherent articulation of a security blueprint that can be presented to the government for improved security in the country.
“Driving quality and excellence within the security industry requires knowledge and leadership. That is why it is very important at this point for us to strategically situate cyber and physical security convergence in moving forward as an industry.
” Secondly, we should also look at the possibility of developing a private security industry profile that will help us to lobby at the National Assembly for standardisation.”
According to the Group Managing Director of Halogen Group, Mr. Wale Olaoye, there is no better time for the private security industry in Nigeria to seek standardisation of their practice than now.
He noted that collaboration and knowledge sharing are key to achieving the much-desired excellence in the industry.
“Collaborative engagement should be looked into by private security service providers to enable the industry to achieve practice standardisation.
” Also, competencies, new capabilities and proper regulations in Nigeria are strategic to accelerating the private security practice to global standards”, Olaoye said.
In her contribution, Mrs Tanwa Ashiru, founder, Bulwark Intelligence, described the retreat as a very productive knowledge-sharing platform capable of catapulting the industry to its desired height. She also opined that technology has become an indispensable tool for solving security issues.
The retreat which took place at the Jubilee Chalet, Epe, attracted notable leaders within the Nigerian Security industry like Major Gen. A.O. Shodunke (Rtd); Lagos State former Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni; Mr. Olisa Ogwuadi, CEO Mc Don Group; Mr David Akhimen, Executive Chairman, King David Group among many others.
Dr. Wale Adeagbo, Chairman of the organising committee of the leadership conference noted that discussions topics such as New Leadership Paradigms for security in an open world, Enterprise Security Risk Management, digitisation and cyber solutioning, bridging service delivery gaps, and exceeding the client’s expectation in today’s challenging and fast-evolving threat landscape, discussed at the retreat, are fundamental to achieving the wholesale transformation of the private security practice space in Nigeria.
