ABUJA – The Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru has reiterated commitment of the Federal Government to promoting a whole-of-nation approach to tackling insecurity.
Badaru stated this at the Maiden High-Level Roundtable of the Irregular Warfare Centre of the National Defence College (NDC), on Thursday in Abuja.
The roundtable is for presentation of findings from field research, in areas of the on-going joint task force operations in Nigeria.
Badaru was represented by his Special Assistant (Technical), retired Maj.-Gen. Ahmed Jibril.
The minister said that a whole-of-nation approach is a comprehensive strategy involving government agencies, civil society organisations, citizens, and the private sector.
He expressed hope that the private sector and citizens should be seen to be playing active roles in tackling the menace of insecurity bedeviling the country.
According to him, the root causes of insecurity such as poverty, inequality, and unemployment has to be part of the effort the government is making to deal with the issue.
He added that community engagement remained essential, and that communities needed to be educated to enable them be part and parcel of efforts to deal with insecurity in their areas.
“This can be done through community policing and neighborhood works.
“There should be deliberate efforts to deal with our neighbours, regional and international organisations in the effort we are making to lead with particularly, transnational threats to national security.
“The aspect of joint operation is just like an aspect of inter-agency cooperation.
“So, we must have to look at all these areas for us to appreciate what government is doing to rid the country of insecurity,’’ he said.
The minister said the idea of dealing with insecurity through kinetic effort alone had become obsolete, adding that every citizen has a stake and role to play to rid the country of criminals.
On his part, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, commended the college for conduct of the research, aimed at creating a pathway to addressing national security challenges.
Musa, who was represented by the Director, Special Operations, Defence Headquarters, Rear Adm. Alexander Bingel, said the research was timely, and would give them insight to what they needed to improve on.
This, he said, would help the military achieve the common goal of securing the country, where lives and property of citizenry are protected. (NAN)
