By KELECHI OGUNLEYE

The Minister of Defence, retired Gen. Christopher Musa, and the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, met on Friday to discuss security measures aimed at ensuring a safe Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the duo had the discussion when the minister of defence paid a courtesy visit to Tunji-Ojo in his office in Abuja.

Tunji-Ojo appreciated the defence head for the visitation while appreciating the huge confidence President Bola Tinubu had in the minister.

“This visit shows that you are bringing your experience to bear and that the internal and external security agencies must become one by working together.

“Our thoughts are well aligned and we understand that security is a combination of internal and external, hence, if the internal agencies do the needful the military wouldn’t be over stretched.

“We have no choice but to work together; working in silence is never in the interest of the nation as this is not the time to be territorial,” he said.

According to him, Nigeria’s security challenges is not close to being the worst, however, exaggeration and perception has been a problem.

“A safe boarder is a safe nation. If you can’t protect your border you can’t guarantee the safety of a nation.

“My dream for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) is not for them to do what the Police is doing but be a specialised agency that is true to its mandate.

“We are not here to compete with the Police or military but to complement and offer support to ensure there is a robust handshake between the agencies,” Tunji-Ojo said.

The minister said that an effective data management was very critical to enhance the efforts of security agencies.

Tunji-Ojo acknowledged that there was the need for an Inter-ministerial committee to synergies both ministries to become an organic entity.

“We must block all lines of division and know that what is important to Nigerians is performance and safety so we must work against communication gap,” the minister said.

He charged the heads of paramilitary agencies to work closely with sister agencies to ensure a safer Nigeria.

The minister of defence in his remarks commended the ministry of interior for its efforts in ensuring the internal security of the nation.

“I commend the ministry for the great work done as security is critical to the development of Nigeria because without security there is no development,” he said.

He noted that no organisation had monopoly of information, hence the need for effective collaboration.

“If we continue to work in synergy there will be so much result and with my coming back we will work very closely.

“It’s important we leverage on technology for intelligence sharing between the defence and interior agencies.

“The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has a lot to do with intelligence as we can get information from a lot of the inmates,” he said.

The defence head proposed that a combined technical committee made up of members from the internal and external agencies be set up, to meet quarterly on security matters affecting the country.

He further pushed for a holistic database between both organisations, adding that,a stronger alliance would boost public Safety .

“Many countries are dealing with asymmetric conflict and that does not stop tourists, so why are they not blacklisting them, so that’s why we need to work more.

“Paramilitary agencies are equally facing these criminals directly and if you are not well prepared you can’t win and we can’t continue to lose our men in a bid to protect the nation. (NAN)

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