Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Following the renewed security threats in some Kaduna communities, the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Immigration, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Department of State Security and other stakeholders on Wednesday held inter-agency collaboration workshop in the State and Nigeria at large.
The interactive workshop comes as part of the activities marking this year’s Army’s operation “Crocodile Smile” VI in franchise States of the Division.
The General Officer Commanding, 1 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Usman Mohammed, said the exercise has become a routine for the Nigerian Army at this time of the year because it has evolved into an effective tool for confronting increasing levels of violence and criminality that usually characterize the concluding months of the year.
According to this Army General, while exercise Crocodile Smile was earlier traditionally conducted in the South-south and South-east regions of the country, its remarkable successes have informed a decision by the Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Tukur Buratai to extend the exercise to other parts of the country.
‘We are also bringing into focus the menace of armed banditry and kidnapping that continue to plague us and dominate some aspects of the media.
‘As I wish to acknowledge the relentless efforts of security agencies that have prevented and foiled countless bandit attacks and kidnap attempts, the unfortunate incidents that have slipped through our guards are at the same time lamentable.
‘These attacks and violation of citizens’ rights, are therefore a call for us as stakeholders in internal security to introspect and re-examine our strategies.
‘The principal aim of this workshop, therefore, is to present us a platform to rub minds and interrogate our strategies towards comprehensively ridding our area of responsibility of criminality and violence,’ he said.
Speaking on the theme of the workshop, “Harnessing the Potentials in Inter-Agency
Collaboration”, the Keynote Speaker, Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, described synergy among security agencies as the backbone to overcoming security threats in the State and beyond.
To Aruwan, ‘synergy is critical. It is the backbone of all successful campaign against national security threats.
‘As a government, I’m here to amplify our support for inter-agency because no agency can be own its own without collaboration. Working together, sharing information and intelligence is key and that is what we are advocating.
‘Being inter-agency collaboration, we are also advocating for the need to incorporate media into managing challenge to national security because it is important for the media to know that when they give our credible and balanced information, it will help out.
‘But in a situation where there is a lot of exaggeration, a lot of misrepresentation, a lot of approaches that are far from realities, the media content will undermine national security,’ he said.
On his part, ACP Abubakar Haruna, who stood-in for the Kaduna State Police Command agreed that Police alone could not successfully tackle security threats without the support of the sister agencies.
‘Police cannot do it alone. We need the support of the military and other sister agencies for us to be able to succeed in the security of our country. Only one agency cannot manage the issue of security,’ he said.
Speaking on behalf of the Zonal Office of the NSCDC, Ezekiel Onibiyo, appreciated Nigerian Army for bringing sister agencies together for a renewed collaboration.
‘From our side as the agency responsible for the protection of national critical assets and infrastructure, Nigerian Army has deemed it fit to gather us here to brainstorm on how we can synergise and we know it is beyond information sharing. It has to grow into intelligence level carrying along even the citizens,’ he said.