…As Kaduna gets CCTV, drones to enhance security
Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai has said that as the lead agency for domestic intelligence and counter-intelligence, the Department of State Services ( DSS) has a vital role to play in providing the reliable information needed by the Police, the Armed Forces, and other security agencies for the total defeat of dangerous insurgents.
Speaking at the second quarter 2021 meeting of the Directors of the State Commands of the Directorate of State Security (DSS) in the NorthWest, held in Kaduna on Thursday, Governor El-Rufai said as Directors of the State Commands of the DSS in the NorthWest, they were all aware of the immense security challenges across the States in their region. “The consequences of these serious security deficits have devastated the rural economy, taken lives and property and made simple travel an ordeal across federal, state and local roads,” he said.
He said a total defeat of the insurgents was an urgent priority, “in the face of the looming food crisis that we face if our farmers do not go to the farms.”
“The rains are here, but farmers in various communities are unable to go to their farms, that is when they are lucky not to have fled their remote villages under pressure and attacks from the criminals. This cannot be allowed to continue,” he said.
The Governor said that the security agencies needed to strengthen intelligence gathering, to establish not just the identities, plans and locations of these criminals, but to actively disrupt their capacity to organise and mount attacks on citizens.
“But it is also very important to ensure that prompt and coordinated action becomes the default response of the Armed Forces and the Police to the profusion of actionable intelligence that is already available from the DSS,” he said.
El-Rufai told the gathering that his Government has invested significantly in security, apart from the usual vehicles, radio equipment and so on. “We have in the last five years been installing a Closed-Circuit TV system across the Kaduna Metropolis, we hope that this project will be completed within the next one-year and with that the Police and other security agencies will be empowered to be able to take pre-emptive action to deter criminals.”
“We have invested in drones, and we are investing in more drones, working with the Airforce and the SSS to see that these drones are deployed to provide additional intelligence. We are also building a forensic laboratory, to help the Police and other security agencies in crime detection and prevention,”he said.
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Earlier in his remarks on the occasion,the State Director of DSS in Kaduna state,Alhaji Idris Koya,said the periodic meeting was originated by the DGSS Alhaji Yusuf Magaji
BICHI, to enable the State Directors regularly come together and brainstorm on the changing spate of insecurity bedeviling the Northwest, exchange ideas, and proffer possible solutions that would aid in containing contemporary threats, effectively efficiently and with minimum cost.
According to him, the region was currently confronted by security threats of kidnapping, armed banditry, insurgency, Farmers/herders conflicts, arms trafficking and several other contemporary security issues that require concerted effort to address, including the pivotal input of the respective State Governments.
While appreciating the Kaduna State Government for its support to his command,the Director said the current efforts by the State Government to establish a drone centre for intelligence gathering and support of other security operations,” is highly commendable and it is our hope that it will come into Service soon as it will be a game-changer in tackling security challenges not only in Kaduna State but the North-West and even North-Central Zones.”
“I will equally like to appreciate the mutual comradeship and Espirit de corps of our sister agencies most especially the synergy enjoyed between the Command and all of you that constitute a major segment of the consumers of our Intelligence product. It is imperative to reiterate here that, Inter-Agency cooperation is sacrosanct to the DSS, as evident in the history of the Service,” he said.
Mr.Samuel Aruwan,the Commissioner,Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs in Kaduna state,said on the occasion that the underlying psychology which they as State Governments and State Commands must work with at this time, was that of “One Team, One Fight.”
“Our states must work as one team, because our fight has clearly become one fight. Anything less than a fully collaborative spirit, may turn our best efforts into liabilities instead of assets to the entire security architecture. From our intelligence gathering, we have discovered, and it is important for us to keep this in mind: criminals, bandits and terrorists are now collaborating more, to devastating effect. If they do, then should we not, as states, do the same?”
“Our regional collaboration must also be mainly knowledge centric. We must realize that creating and leveraging superior knowledge in the fight against banditry and terrorism enables decision superiority, reduces operational risk, and increases the pace, coherence, and effectiveness of responses.
From the perspective of the Government, this regional intra-agency collaboration is both a means of achieving an objective, and an objective itself. The benefits to each state, to this agency, and even to sister security agencies, are numerous,” he said.
According to the commissioner, “closer collaboration will enable individual state governments plan for adequate financial support to fill logistic and technical gaps. Specific collaborative agendas can also be developed to improve synergy. Crucially, a central system of intelligence coordination can be created. This is the basis of the Kaduna State Government’s vision for a durable, purpose-built, cohesive response system which will upgrade security responses and provide a modern working security structure.”
Vanguard News Nigeria
