Security agencies must work together to end insecurity – Aregbesola

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The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has said all security agencies must work together if the war against insurgency and allied criminality bedevilling the country must be won.

Aregbesola, who said this in a speech that was read on his behalf by his technical assistant, Joshua Ibiloye, at a national policy and development summit on Thursday in Abuja, stressed that security agencies should synergize and approach insecurity with a formidable and united front.

The one-day summit was titled ‘Nigeria’s Security Challenges and the Way Forward’.

Quoting the minister, Ibiloye said terrorism and kidnapping, “which were not known in Nigeria in the past”, have now become rampant.

He affirmed that if security agencies continued to operate independently and in isolation, “the war against insurgency and crime would be far from being over”.

“We need to know that fighting asymmetric war is absolutely different from conventional war. The strategies should be different,” Aregbesola was quoted as saying.

“Fight against insurgency and kidnapping is asymmetric warfare where those engaged in them do not respect or comply with international laws of engagement. They kill women, children, and the aged.

“We are all at risk, thus, there is a need for synergy.

“We can’t win in such war unless and until security agencies synergise effectively and improve on intelligence gathering and sharing. We should be proactive than reactive.

“Also, security agencies need to win the trust of the people through advocacy; at times, citizens do not trust security agencies, thus we need to win their trust to make us do better.”

He continued, “No security agency has enough manpower; we need massive recruitment into the military and paramilitary agencies to help in tackling security challenges in the country.

“We must deploy technology to do part of the job like using drones. However, we are trying to strengthen ties with private security guards across the country.”

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