The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, says dialogue and cooperation between government and non-governmental actors were vital to preventing and countering terrorism and violence.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Yahaya, represented by the Chief of Training (Army), Maj.-Gen. Sani Mohammed, said this while speaking at the Army War College Nigeria (AWCN) Interagency Seminar 2023 on Thursday in Abuja.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He said that there was the need to regard the broader public, local communities and the private sector as partners and stakeholders in the collective effort to countering threats bedevilling the nation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He added that the aforementioned stakeholders must no longer be regarded as passive, but as active participants in security and law enforcement activities.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis we must achieve by streamlining our efforts for the collective goal of enhancing national security.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cStreamlining all initiatives for countering threats to security will be premised on effective partnerships between all the actors.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cCivil society is a very important stakeholder in this regard as it helps to create the space for constructive engagement between the state and citizens,<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps to foster trust and understanding between the state and citizens as they take ownership of strategies put in place to counter their collective threat,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He stressed that partnerships between stakeholders would help to eliminate mistrust, conceptual misunderstandings, and differences in understanding of national security issues.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIndeed the time for the full involvement of society in efforts to counter our internal security challenges is overdue.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is more so in the understanding that no stakeholder can successfully counter internal security challenges single-handedly.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also informed my vision for a professional Nigerian army ready to accomplish assigned missions within a joint environment in the defence of Nigeria,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He added that the current asymmetric environment required the collaboration of all military efforts as the military had made tremendous strides in countering internal security threats.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He said there was the need to build upon the gains so far made through cooperation by all other relevant security agencies.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He said also that the seminar could not have come at a better time than this post-general election period.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cApart from serving as a medium for appraising our collective efforts at steering Nigeria, the seminar affords us an opportunity to appraise our collective performances during the just-concluded elections.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAdded to this, all of us as a nation have come to the realisation that our operations need to be intelligence-driven,\u2019\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In his contribution, Commandant of AWCN, Maj.-Gen. Bamidele Alabi, said the seminar was part of the college\u2019s curriculum for Course 7\/2023 which was inaugurated on Feb. 17 with 74 participants.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Alabi said that in dealing with crises arising from the actions of actors within Nigeria\u2019s geostrategic environment, it was essential to employ all the elements of national power to stem the tide.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He added that the projection of the elements of national power required security agencies, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to cooperate and collaborate towards the attainment of national objectives.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He added that interagency cooperation and coordination module of the course was designed to equip participants with the knowledge required to operate with governmental and non-governmental agencies.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe seminar is another step towards enhancing interagency cooperation and coordination among MDAS as well as an opportunity for them to discuss thematic issues affecting the management of the security sector.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is hoped that this seminar will also highlight the fundamental issues in the management of our nation\u2019s defence and security sector,\u2019\u2019 Alabi said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The seminar has \u201cStreamlining initiative towards effective interagency collaborations in Nigeria\u2019\u2019 as its theme.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: News Agency of Nigeria<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, says dialogue and cooperation between government and non-governmental actors were vital to preventing and countering terrorism and violence.Yahaya, represented by the Chief of Training (Army), Maj.-Gen. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n