The Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI), has advocated the whole of society approach in tackling security challenges in the country.
By Chimezie Godfrey
The Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI), has advocated the whole of society approach in tackling security challenges in the country.
The advocacy was raised on Saturday in Abuja during the Association’s 44th Annual General Meeting tagged,”Security is a Collective Responsibility.”
Speaking at the event, the AANI President, Ambassador Emmanuel Okafor, mni, decried the spate of security challenges in the country, and current economic hardship faced by Nigerians.
Okafor assured that the AANI is partnering with various stakeholders to promote good governance and sustainable development across the country.
He said,”Nigeria is currently facing a very difficult time, when the twin challenges of insecurity and economic difficulties have slowed down activities in all sectors of the economy. This has created social tension including street protests and looting of food items. As part of AANI’s contribution in restoring normalcy, we are partnering with various stakeholders to promote good governance and sustainable development across the country in line with our overall objective of working towards a better society.
“In this regard, AANI partnered with the Center for Transparency and Integrity Watch to host an ‘International Symposium on Countering Organised Crime in Africa: Building Resilient Institutions to counter Emerging Threats.
“We are also currently working with the Ministry of Defense to hold security sensitization seminars in all the geo political zones of the federation. We have already developed a concept note and on the verge of signing an MOU with the Defense Headquarters for the Implementation of the project. All states chapters will have roles to play towards the success of the advocacy.
“As indicated in the theme of this AGM, that will be discussed during the lecture session, we believe that the change of attitude and efforts required to rescue Nigeria from the current security challenges is a collective responsibility that requires broad based commitment
and consistent implementation of comprehensive national development plans.”
Okafor urged AANI members to actively commit and participate in the effort to rescue the country from its present predicament, inline with the association’s outlined objectives.
“The vision of AANI to promote the noble ideals of a better society and its mission to serve as the conscience of the nation is a collective responsibility that requires the commitment and active participation of all members of our association.
“It also requires an effective framework for continuous advocacy and engagement with our Alma Mata and other stakeholders towards the attainment of the outlined objectives.
“It is therefore the responsibility of all AANI members to participate actively in the activities of AANI both at the National and Chapter levels, to enable AANI leverage on their contributions and expertise to maximize the impact of the association on the welfare of members, the development of NIPSS and our dear country, Nigeria.
“Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the EXCO members for their support and contributions. I also thank the staff of the AANI Secretariat for their commitment and hard work.
“On my part, I want to assure you that I will continue to puria my best to strengthen AANI into a formidable tool for advocacy towards a better Nigeria With these few remarks, I wish to declare the 44th AGM of our great association open,” he said.
Delivering the lecture on the topic:”Security is a Collective Responsibility”, the Director General, Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), Major General G. A. Wahab (Rtd), admitted that Nigeria has multifaceted problems, stressing the need for a collaborative efforts from all stakeholders to tackle security threats in the country.
Wahab lamented that insecurity has eroded the trust in government, adding that there is need to find a way out of the quagmire, as he stressed need of community involvement in addressing security challenges.
He said,” Community involvement in addressing insecurity is crucial to solve problems at the local levels. This should include the provision of community policing.
“I have been asked to talk about collective responsibility in security and to do that you have to go to the grassroot level, the local government level, we want everybody to involved. At the local government level people know themselves and so we need to get that clear.
“And the governor’s should and must allow local civil service to function and perform effectively. If that is done, it becomes easier for us to get to the root of the problem. And you cannot do that without the traditional institutions because they command so much respect within their localities.”
On the role of good governance in addressing insecurity in Nigeria, he said,”Yes, everybody has talked about good governance, but what do I mean in my own instance, let everybody be given equal opportunity, and those who are there should use their offices to provide infrastructures, if there are infrastructures then it becomes easier to ask people to remain where they are, rather than everybody flocking to the city centers. Because if they do, there is the believe that by 2050, more than 60% of Nigerians will be living in the urban centers and that will create more criminal activities in those areas.
“Of course the remote areas will be deserted, so we must prevent a situation where remote rural areas are deserted and the centers becomes criminal havens”.
Also speaking in a goodwill message, the Executive Director, Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity, Umar Yakubu said, “Security as a collective responsibility, I personally believe that all the practical solutions to our security challenges such as human trafficking, drug trafficking, terrorism, arm trafficking and all the rest can be found within the wall of this association.
“Since we have the partnership of other associations and other security services, we can say the walls of other associations are here and we can find solutions to all these security challenges that we have in our country.
“As emerging security challenges evolves, I use the opportunity to call on AANI members to remain a beacon of hope for the country, and intellectual hub and catalyst for positive change in Nigeria in finding solutions to these problems.”
In his interention, a renowned security expert, Dr Kabir Adamu, commended AANI for the meeting and the theme as well as the choice of the guest lecturer.He noted that collective security can only be achieved if the people can relate to and feel security and its output.
Adamu said, for example, their ability to access their farms, markets and travel between locations etc. to achieve this we need to measure security performance through monitoring and evaluation and other metrics. This brings us to the need for security agencies to enhance internal standards and monitoring and evaluation capabilities .He also advocated for accountability: both operational and financial accountability.
Another area of Adamu’s intervention was that of “those who can shape our value system”. The guest lecturer mentioned the family but Adamu advocated for the role of schools and religious or religious places of worship.Finally, he highlighted he relevance of the oversight function by the National Assembly and recommended that AANI should assist in training the committees on security .
Former Director, Department State Services (DSS), and also a member of the Alumni Association of National Institute of Security Studies (AANISS) Mike Ejiofor said Nigeria is not lacking solutions to its problems,”Nigerians are not lacking solutions to their problems. If you go to the NIPS, if you go AANISS, AANI, if go to the Defence College the solutions are there. Everybody listening to TV will find solutions.
Ejiofor called for collective effort in finding solutions to the security challenges bedeviling the country.
He said,”We must all be involved, security is a collective responsibility. We will partner with AANI to ensure that solve our problems.”
He reiterated his support for the creation of state police,”I still support the creation of state police. Am wholeheartedly in support of creation of state police.
“Most importantly is that “if you see something, say something, that is the structure I will like us to build on”.
On his part, President of the Alumni Association of the National Defence College (AANDEC), Air Commodore Darlington Abdullahi lamented that inspite of the that have been made over the years the challenges bedeviling the country persists.
“Inspite of the effort that have been made over the years we still have security challenges. We have a situation in our hands that should make us sit back and think seriously on how we can create an impact on the system that we are all part of, to bring about a better situation in our nation.
“AANI as an institution I know has done so much over the years, and that we have members all over the country that are contributing immensely to matter of security and development of our nation. And inspite of all these like I mentioned earlier we have a data challenge in our hands. That means the time has come and an opportunity like this we should be able to think about better ways to approach the problems that we have in our hands.
“The challenge is the fact that so much is being done yet the challenges mounts. For me as President of the Alumni Association of the National Defence College, I will to first of all thank you for the much you have done, I must also stress that there is a lot more to be done and that the AANDEC will be more willing to work with you to achieve the desired results for our nation.
“Collective responsibility but the question remains , how do we make our input to become a viable solution to the challenges.”
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