A retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Tunde Ogunsakin, has stressed the importance of inter-agency cooperation among security agencies in Nigeria.
He said the cooperation was crucial for managing conflicts and containing insecurity in the country.
According to him, by working together, security agencies can build trust in their capabilities to protect civilians and their property.
Ogunsakin said this in a speech titled“ Inter-agency Unity: The Power of Collective Action” at a book launch in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said Inter-agency unity in the country has become necessary “because one or more agencies has not been performing its responsibilities optimally” considering the ever-increasing and dynamic security challenges.
He said: “Available evidence indicates that poor inter-agency collaboration among Nigeria’s security institutions is one of the major factors militating against effective conflict resolution and security management in Nigeria.
“The consequences of not working effectively together culminate in increasing fear of insecurity and diminished trust in the capabilities of the security system to protect the lives and property of civilian populations across Nigeria in general and terror zones in particular.
“From Boko Haram in the Northeast, banditry and criminal kidnapping in the Northwest, secessionist agitations in the Southeast and Southwest, the security system in Nigeria is practically overstretched. In this situation, only the working together of the units that make up Nigeria’s security system will de-escalate conflict and neutralize security threats through complementary operations and credible intelligence sharing among others.”
The retired AIG identified some of the challenges militating against inter-agency cooperation among security agencies to include “lack of strategic guidance for inter-agency cooperation, inadequate intelligence technical equipment and insufficient capacity for national security operations.”
According to him, Nigeria’s porous borders facilitate the infiltration of adversaries from West Africa, and as result no single agency could effectively tackle the complex security issues facing the nation, hence the need for deeper collaboration among security agencies.
He said: “We must understand that modern security threats, and coordination influenced by technology and non-state actors, require a coordinated response to ensure national security.
“The operating environment has evolved to a point where no single service or agency can effectively and independently tackle the threats to national security. It is therefore crucial that synergy is developed with other security agencies in the implementation of the whole societal approach to the threats.”
Ogunsakin said if the security agencies could play their constitutional roles well played, especially in cooperation in the spirit of inter-agency unity, crimes, criminalities and violent conflicts in the society would be minimal.
“Although, there has been a continuous emphasis on the essence of interagency unity, however, nothing appears to have changed in the level of uncooperativeness among the agencies.
“This situation calls for the urgent action of the top echelon of all the security agencies in order to ensure national security and achieve maximum results in the security management of the country,” he said.
