Insecurity: GOC Solicits Security Agencies’ Cooperation

The General Officer Com
manding 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, has called for synergy among security agencies to combat the country’s security challenges.
Attahiru made the call in his opening remarks at a training programme organised by the 44 Division engineers for officers and senior non-commissioned officers at the Military Cantonment, Onitsha recently.
The GOC, who was represented by Brig.-Gen. Olufemi Akinjobi, said such synergy would encourage innovations in tackling the challenges of asymmetric warfare engaged by militants, insurgents, armed robbers and kidnappers.
He explained that the training would rejuvenate the professional standards of the personnel to confront contemporary security challenges of asymmetric warfare.
He said that similar training had resulted in the optimal performance of the “Dragon Engineers” during the recent Operation Crocodile Smile.
In a lecture, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Training and Operations in the division, Col. Chris Ataki, said the Nigeria Army still faced some asymmetric warfare challenges.
Ataki, who spoke on “Asymmetric Warfare in Nigeria: Challenges and Way Forward,” listed the challenges to include the lack of clear policy on boarder security and poor standard of training.
Other challenges were manpower constraints, inadequate plants and equipment, inadequate capacity, weak research and development base and inadequate intelligence.
He suggested the formulation of policy on boarder security by the Ministry of Defence and other security agencies to mitigate the challenges of porous border security.
Ataki called for incentives for researchers to improve research and development.
He also called for improved training for troops on best global practices on countering asymmetric warfare and improved fund for the army.
The officer advocated for improved technology for the army especially in the use of drones, access control, hacking and use of robots to dismantle improvised explosive devices.
He said that these would not only build the confidence of the soldiers but give the confidence that they could defeat insurgents and terrorists.
In another lecture, the Director of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) in Anambra, Mr Yusuf Isyaku, said that insufficient funding for conduct of intelligence operations was a major challenge to the agency.
Isyaku, who was represented by Mrs Chioma Anyanwu, said that other challenges included under-assessment of situation/security problem and over-assessment caused by exaggerated information, deception and lack of skill by assessors.
Isyaku’s lecture was titled “Asymmetric Warfare: Intelligence as a Critical Operation Enabler”.
Earlier, in a welcome address, the Commander of 44 Division Engineering, Enugu, Brig.-Gen. Philip Eromosele, had expressed confidence that the training would enhance personnel’s understanding of asymmetric warfare and response to disaster management.