By Sumaila Ogbaje
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Dr Shuaibu Belgore, has urged the military and other security agencies to develop a robust system of timely sharing of information in combating the prevailing security challenges.
Belgore made the call at the opening of the Operations Security and Force Protection Course 1/2022 of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) on Monday in Abuja.
He said the course was timely considering the level of insecurity in the country where the military and other security services had been involved in multidimensional interventions on multiple frontiers.
According to him, the security agencies are currently confronting security challenges that are both asymmetric warfare in nature and complexity in virtually all the states of the Federation and Federal Capital Territory.
He said the initiative should focus to develop a more robust system of operational security and enforcement action for mission successes.
Belgore said the effort should be geared towards preventing operational information from leaking into the hands of adversaries.
The permanent secretary said the efforts should also secure the lives of field operators particularly in light of the complex, dynamic and asymmetrical nature of warfare engaged by the military.
He said the war against terrorism required a corresponding change in the tactics to keep the operatives ahead of the enemies always to ensure the success of the mission.
“Also noteworthy to the success of any military operation is having minimal casualties and it is against the backdrop of the above that this course is conceived.
“I salute the initiative of the conveners of this course for their vision and foresight to drive the process of reinventing and reinvigorating the spirit of the nation’s military and security agencies.
“To all the participants here, take maximum advantage of what it offers and to build their capacities and competencies for the ever evolving dynamics of warfare space.
“The course is aimed towards bringing in different sectors together, especially in the intelligence and defense sector, to be able to work together in a collaborative way in terms of intelligence sharing and joint operations,” he said.
The Director-General, NARC, retired Maj.-Gen. Garba Wahab, said the course was organised for top military officers and other agencies of government who were at the forefront of managing security crisis.
Wahab said the course was aimed at finding a comprehensive approach to deliveries of intelligence, deliberate release of information or misinformation, because it depends on which side of the divide.
He said the nation’s security operatives must develop their ability to propagate intelligence as the major driver of their operations, adding that no operational success could be achieved without intelligence.
He said that trust and confidence had made sharing of intelligence difficult among security agencies, as it was important for the military and other security agencies to earn each other’s trust and confidence.
“So when people understand the weaknesses and strengths of everybody, it becomes easy even when you are reluctant you still warn the person before giving out information.
“The need to share, the need to know is important and so it borders on capacity and capability of the officers involved,” he said. (NAN)
