Gen. Owoye Azazi (rtd.), National Security Adviser

In response to the escalating crises across the country, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Owoye Azazi (rtd.), Tuesday said Nigeria is redesigning its national security strategy to channel efforts toward the guarantee of public safety and national stability.

Azazi, who spoke at a seminar at the National Defence College, Abuja, under the theme, “The Concept of National Security Strategy and the Changing Security Environment”, said  Nigerians must come to terms with the reality that security is the business of everybody, not just officials of government

He disagreed with the suggestion for the imposition of a state of emergency in the violence-prone States of Borno, Bauchi and Plateau, saying: “It would not guarantee the needed security, but would rather aggravate the state of insecurity by removing the Governors.”

The NSA warned that rising security threats in the future would crystallise into armed violence, insurgency, irregular and guerrilla warfare, but stated that these threats are not new because of the globalisation effect.

“Now everybody is everywhere. We have the CNN effect. Things happening in one locality are communicated immediately. For example, despite the clampdown on internet and wireless communication in Egypt, people still communicate and mobilise”, he said.

Azazi commended the participants of Course 19 of the National Defence College for working on a national security strategy which he disclosed, would be presented before the end of the course in August this year.

He stated: “Any security strategy we design must focus on public safety and national stability. And we must address the issues of security as a people and we must admit that security is everybody’s business”.

The former Chief of Defence Staff also stated that the use of GSM to perpetuate crimes would be curtailed by June this year when all Sim Cards would have been registered.

 “Criminals are likely to take advantage of GSM and other inventions.And we are being pro-active in this area”, he said.

Speaking further, he expressed concern over the state of crises andinsecurity brewing in some neighbouring countries in West Africa, suchas Niger, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea. “We share border with Niger, so, we have to be interested in how the country is governed. In Nigeria, security threat will likely emerge by political issues and will likely be resolved by political leaders. Andour inability to ensure food security despite our large arable land could pose security problems”, he noted.

The Commandant of the Defence College, Rear Admiral Thomas John Lokoson stated  stressed that while traditional security problems remain central concerns, an array of less well-defined dangers have assumed prominent places in strategic planning considerations. Lokoson t posited that these challenges can be well handled with careful planning and wise leadership, adding that an important feature of any solution must be the establishment of a consensus in our societies about the kind of security that is needed.

He explained that both on individual and collective basis, these traditional and non-traditional security problems are shaping and defining security environments throughout the world. He said:  “For us in Africa, conflicts threaten our regional stability and economic progress. Terrorism, drug trafficking and small arms trafficking is also some of our concerns that transcend our national borders. Other problems such as resource depletion, rapid population growth, environmental degradation, new infectious diseases and uncontrolled refugee migration also have important implications for

our security”. He however, suggested that the development of a well-conceived national, sub-regional and regional security strategies that provides

coherent paths towards identifying, advancing and protecting societies’ interests is needed to address the emerging security

threats.

-ThisDay

Posted by admin on Feb 2 2011. Filed under Latest Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry