Nigeria Content Online

The federal
government may soon give more security responsibilities to private
security companies in the country by divesting from the policing of
certain cities so as to allow for effective policing of the country.
The National Security Adviser, Andrew Azazi, a retired General, said
this at a one-day security summit organised by J.K. Randle Professional
Services, in collaboration with the office of the national security
adviser.

The summit, held at
the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, has as its theme,
“Security and Risk Management on Land, in the Air and at Sea.” It was
aimed at addressing the concerns and challenges regarding security of
lives and properties and investment. Mr Azazi said some cities can
employ private security companies to collaborate effectively with the
police in checking crime wave in the cities. “Private security should
be organised in big cities like we have in Durban South Africa,” he
said. “We can encourage that while we work on our police to effectively
collaborate with the police and also help in checking crimes.”

Real causes of insecurity

The national
security adviser also emphasized the need for government to address the
fundamentals of governance, stating that poverty, unemployment and
corruption are indices that impede security of lives and property in
the country. “Security is the relative absence of fear and national
security is the defence of the nation,” he said. “And for us to have
effective security, to me, is for us to begin to look at the quality of
lives in an environment which is now more important than the invasion
from other countries. Whatever it takes to make the human lives better
and progressive is security. National security involves planning and
the vision 2010 is a blue print that if adopted would help us because
it contains the ingredients of progress and should be implemented.”

The security chief
called for a collective effort toward security for the nation, adding
that security challenges have ethical, traditional, religious
colourations and they are taking dangerous trends like the Boko Haram
sect and the new trend in bombing. “For security to be addressed issues
like poverty, corruption, unemployment and other elements of governance
should be looked at,” he said.

Way forward

“Concerning the
October 1st bombing in Abuja, we have arrested some suspects and they
are being prosecuted,” he said. “We are on the trail of those behind
the Jos and the Mogadishu Barrack bombings. There is need for a
national database, and our SIM card registration, the voters’
registration and other registrations in the country can be integrated
into a national database; from my office we will begin to do something
about it.”

Fola Arthur Worrey, the Managing Director of the Lagos State
Security Trust Fund, advised that the police be properly funded, adding
that political responsibility for security of lives and property lies
with the president. “We must identify who the constitution says is
responsible for the security of lives and property and we must use the
ballot boxes to check them,” he said. “There is need for effective
policing all the time and we must move away from reactionary policing
to effective everyday policing of life and property. Since most states
now bear the burden of security in their states, more allocation for
the police in the federal government budget and the constitution should
be amended so that the state and local government have more money to
invest in security so to further localise the process.”