The Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau, said that the ministry had established a Situation Room for easy monitoring of internal security situation and quick response in the country.

Dambazau disclosed this when a delegation of the Course 40, Group 4, of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, visited him on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that the essence of the situation room was to monitor activities relating to internal security in the country.

He said that when the project came into operation it would be manned and monitored 24 hours.

The minister said that the ministry would partner with all other relevant and internal security agencies in and outside the ministry in decision making.

On the proliferation of private security guards in the country, Dambazau said that anybody who carried any illegal weapon would be dealt with according to the law.

On community policing, the minister said the relationship between the police and the community was meant to raise hope in law and order as well as increase trust and confidence.

He noted that the police would find it difficult to work if the public developed a negative perception about them.

Dambazau said that ICT was the ministry’s main priority, adding the ministry had trained several personnel on ICT.

The leader of the delegation, Prof. Habus Galadima, said the visit was in line with the course theme of “strengthening internal security framework in Policing”.

Galadima said the group was on a tour of strategic institutions to do a research on strengthening internal security in the country. ”

“We are conducting tours of strategic institutions, we deemed it necessary to come as a Study Group 4 to visit you.

“There is no way we can work on strengthening internal security without hearing from the custodian of internal security which is the Minister of Interior,” he said.

The Course 40 Group 4 participants include: officers from the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation; the National Universities Commission (NUC), the Army, Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation and the Presidency, among others. (NAN)