TheCable

President Bola Tinubu says he will not allow insecurity challenges to bring  Nigeria to its knees while other countries are advancing

Babagana Monguno, the national security adviser, spoke to journalists after a meeting with Tinubu and security chiefs at the Presidential Villa on Thursday.

Monguno said Tinubu has also asked heads of security agencies to present a working blueprint to address the lingering insecurity in the country. 

The national security adviser said the president also mandated him and his colleagues to address maritime insecurity and “crush” oil thieves. 

Monguno said the president directed the security agencies to comply with the demands of “frequent consultations and also timely reports which must be acted on”.

“All agencies must work to achieve one single purpose. Working at cross purposes and colliding with each other is not something that he will condone. He has made it very, very clear that all the security agencies must comply with the demands of coordination, with the demands of frequent consultations and also timely reports which must be acted on,” Monguno said. 

“He is going to embark on a lot of reforms in terms of our security architecture. He is going to take a closer look at our misfortunes in the maritime domain, focusing particularly on the issues of oil theft that he is not going to tolerate. Wherever the problem is coming from, it must be crushed as soon as possible.

“He has already mandated the security agencies to come up with a blueprint as far as he knows, as far as it’s concerned, he doesn’t have the luxury of time. And whatever changes will be made have to be done as soon as possible. 

“The president also has decided that whatever ventures the armed forces are going to be engaged in, they must carry along those operatives in the theatre. They must be well-fed, well-kitted, motivated and given all that they require. 

“President has said clearly that he will do whatever is within his powers to enable the operational elements but the intelligence agencies must also make their work easy for them by providing the type of intelligence that they require to carry out the assignment.”

The service chiefs present at the meeting were Lucky Irabor, chief of defence staff; Farouk Yahaya, chief of army staff; Awwal Gambo, chief of air staff, and Isiaka Amao, chief of naval staff.

Others were Usman Baba, the inspector-general of police; Yusuf Bichi, director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS); and Ahmed Abubakar, director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).