20th October, 2016
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode on Thursday said Nigerians and the international community must join hands with President Muhammadu Buhari’s federal government to defeat terrorism in the country.
Ambode spoke at the opening ceremony of the National Sensitisation Workshop on the mplementation of the National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST) held at the National Employers Consultative Assembly (NECA) Auditorium, Alausa in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
The governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tunji Bello, charged all Nigerians and the international community to continue to support the efforts of the Federal Government towards bringing under total control the incidences of insecurity and terrorism in the nation and the West African sub-region.
“All hands must be on deck and all stakeholders must be on the same page and be ready to contribute our fair share in the deal to ensure a safe and prosperous Nigeria for all and sundry,” he said, emphasising the need for a strong synergy and collaboration among security agencies in the war against terrorism and insecurity.
He stressed that all security apparatuses must be united and determined in the knowledge that government was committed to providing all the support needed to guarantee victory, adding that this was imperative and compelling in order to sustain the current successes that had been achieved in the fight against terrorism.
According to Ambode, Lagos State would continue to extend necessary logistic support to security agencies in the state, saying that “we have a vision to make our state secure for business and tourism for the prosperity of our people.
“We are therefore committed to support all initiatives, including this workshop aimed at ensuring a secured and peaceful environment for legitimate enterprises to succeed.”
The governor described the workshop as demonstration of the fact that the fight against terrorism must be all inclusive.
“While the Federal Government is expected to provide leadership, other levels of government and non-governmental and community based organisations must be carried along to play a collaborative role identified areas of responsibility”, he stressed.
Speaking, the National Security Adviser, NSA, Major General Babagana Monguro (rtd) said the NACTEST is a holistic document that spelt out the roles every Ministry, Department and Agency (MDA), civil society groups and others, saying that there is no agency that could work alone to ensure security of life and property in the country.
Monguro, who was represented by Steve Agbana said the reason “we have come to Lagos is to put the structure in place. Most time, local government chairmen don’t know that they are the chief security officer for their local government.
“This is a wake-up call that they all need to work with the security agencies within their councils and in their state and federal. This will ensure that at all tiers of government, efforts are done to ensure security within the country.
“The structure for communication has already been established. There is a perfect communication line between the councils and the State government. It is multi-layer communication, that is, from bottom-up. Communities are critical to security of the country. We recognize the importance traditional rulers to improving security in the country.”
The 2-day workshop has in attendance top security officers at all levels, including from the Office of the National Security Adviser, Local Government Sole Administrators and members of the civil society groups.