By Dauda R Pam Maiduguri
The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, has said that, the current security challenges in the Country require strategic collaboration and inter- agency partnerships to enable it successfully over come the fight.
Air Marshal Oladayo Amao hinted that “the 21st century security challenges require strong collaboration and strategic partnerships among the security agencies to successfully overcome them”.
This was contained in a statement issued by Director Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore, Edward Gabwet, on the visit of the Acting IGP, Usman Alkali Baba, to NAF headquarters, Abuja.
He described the visit as a strong demonstration of The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) commitment towards collaboration with sister security agencies.
The CAS recounted several instances where the NAF had conducted various internal security operations with the NPF, noting that the NAF would continue to provide necessary support whenever required and noted that in internal security operations, the NPF is the lead agency, however, due to military involvement in internal operations, the Defence Headquarters has now taken over the responsibility.
“Although the military is trained to contain external aggression, we hope to leverage on the experience of the police as we wade into internal security operations,” he said.
The CAS congratulated the IGP on his recent appointment and emphasized the need for constant interface and intelligence sharing between the Nigeria Police and other security agencies.
Responding, the IGP restated the commitment of the NPF to strengthen the existing cordial relationship between the NPF and the NAF, which he said had yielded several mutually beneficial collaborations in addressing internal security challenges in the Country.
“Internal security is not all about the Police and other security agencies. Due to the current circumstances of insecurity in the country, the military is currently involved in internal security operations to maintain law and order in all the 36 States of Nigeria.”
The IGP added that the issue of collaboration and synergy is key to ensuring that law and order are maintained in the country so as to enable Nigerians to go about their lawful businesses.
Also, the IGP stated that crime and criminality have become more technologically advanced, hence the need for all security agencies to synergise their efforts and bring their expertise to bear.
Used the occasion to commend the NAF for its key role in the fight against insurgency and internal security operations and emphasized the need for the two agencies to come together and work as a team.
According to him, the Nigerian Police and the NAF have a history of working together especially in the areas of training, joint patrol, and airlift of police personnel to places not easily accessible, added that his first point of call was to the office of the Chief of Defence Staff which is indicative of the critical role the Armed Forces of Nigeria play in maintaining law and order in the society.
The IGP was accompanied by some senior police officers from Force Headquarters Abuja.
