FCT Residents Advise Govt On Security

Some residents of Bwari Area Council in the FCT, last Saturday urged government to strengthen security in the area through intelligence gathering.
The residents, who spoke in separate interviews with our correspondent in Bwari, intelligence gathering would go a long way toward providing security agencies with relevant information.
Mr John Ewa, said adequate security was critical for people living in the community to go about their lawful businesses without any fear of criminals or criminalities.
According to him; security remains key to attaining economic growth.
“Security operatives must employ intelligence gathering as a tool to tackle the challenge of insecurity, such as burglary, cattle rustling and violence in the society,’’ he advised.
Another resident, Mr Mohammed Yunusa, who recalled his unsavoury experience with burglars, said that single incident rendered him and his family poverty stricken.
Yunusa also echoed the call for intelligence gathering by security operatives to stem the rising crime wave in the council.
“The security of any society is critical for community development to thrive; the critical issue is the way our security operatives delay in response to distressed calls by the community.
“Bwari is not the only area council facing security challenges today; the fundamental thing is how you deal with these challenges.
“We need to sustain security operations in our community by using intelligence gathering as a response to security threat,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, an Islamic Cleric, Dr Ibrahim Yusuf, called for synergy among security agencies, to ensure effective intelligence gathering in the area.
Yusuf, who is the Chief Imam of Sabon Gari Central Mosque, said: “It is important for government to take a holistic view of information gathering.
“It must take into consideration the need to harmonise the roles of law enforcement and security agencies and the need to deploy technologies required for identification of criminal suspects,’’ he said.
A vigilante member at the FCDA Quarters in Bwari, who pleaded anonymity, attributed security challenges in the community to lack of intelligence approach.
The vigilante said lack of synergy among security operatives was the major challenge to security management.
“Our duties are mainly carried out at night, we are however, working out a schedule to compliment efforts by security operatives to tackle insecurity in the community.