12th April, 2018
Security agencies are working in synergy to ensure peace in the North-Central, a survey by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has shown.
According to the survey which was conducted on the working relationship among the security agencies, both conventional and non-conventional security outfits are collaborating to achieve the goal.
NAN found that most states in the zone have joint task forces comprising the Army, Police and personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) that are in charge of maintaining security in the states facing attacks by bandits, insurgents, kidnappers and suspected herdsmen.
In Plateau, it was gathered that the state is being secured by a joint task force – Operation Safe Heaven – with personnel drawn from the three armed forces.
Also working in concert with the task force is Operation Rainbow of the State Government.
Commenting on the working relationship among the forces, Mr Terna Tyopey, spokesman of the Police Command in Plateau, described it as “excellent’’.
“The Special Task Force, Operation Safe Haven is a combination of all security agencies specially created by the military to tackle insecurity in the state.
“Plateau is lucky to have the presence of all security agencies stationed in the state; all of them are working in synergy to address the security challenges in the state.
“The establishment of the Special Task Force is already a special arrangement that binds such synergy because they all have to work together for the common good of the country,’’ he said.
He said that the heads of all security agencies were meeting jointly every month and discussing threats to security with a view to finding solutions to them.
Tyopev explained that the synergy had suppressed threats to the peace, saying that major breaches like kidnapping, farmers/herdsmen clashes, armed robbery, religious intolerance and a host of others, had been reduced drastically.
Similarly, the Police Command in Nasarawa State has attributed its successes at curtailing crimes which resulted in the relative peace in the state, to the collaborative efforts of all the security agencies there.
The command’s spokesman, Mr Kennedy Idirisu, told NAN in Lafia that the Police would not have achieved much without the inputs of other security outfits.
“We share a lot of intelligence at different levels with sister security agencies, especially during crisis situation. This has helped a great deal in restoring normalcy to troubled areas.
“A case in point was when farmers and herdsmen clashed in January in Benue and it spilled over to Nasarawa State.
“The Police command in the state worked in synergy with the 177 Guards Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Department of State Services (DSS) in the various border communities to ensure that the crisis did not escalate.
“Prior to the commencement of the ‘Operation Cat Race’ by the Army aimed at quelling the crisis, we embarked on joint patrols with other security outfits and constituted teams to safeguard the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) quartered in about 12 camps,’’ Idirisu said.
He said that the police had often liaised with other agencies to ensure security during festivities and elections, stressing that policing the society was an enormous task that the Police alone could not handle in view of its inadequate personnel and logistics.
According to Idirisu, most of the operations that led to the arrest of cattle rustlers and recovery of over 400 cows from the Nasarawa-Toto axis of the state were done with the assistance of the vigilance groups in the various communities.
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He maintained that the command, through its Police Community Relations Committees (PCRC), had created an environment for members of the public to give useful information toward curbing crime.
“Such information is treated confidentially by the police to protect the source and to encourage members of the public to keep volunteering information,” Idirisu said.
The Police officer said that the command, apart from sharing information with other agencies, transferred cases outside the constitutional mandate of the police to the appropriate agencies for proper handling.
“For instance, we recently arrested a man believed to be a foreigner engaged in the illegal trafficking of some children from the Niger republic to Port-Harcourt, and handed him over to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for further investigation and possible prosecution.
“We also have instances where we arrested people with drug-related offences and handed them over to the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and vice versa,” Idirisu added.
Similarly, Mohammed Mahmoud-Fari, Nasarawa State Commandant of the NSCDC, told NAN that the inter-agency collaboration of the security architecture of the state was impressive.
Mahmoud-Fari noted that apart from the joint special patrols, NSCDC had enjoyed smooth relationship with the Police and other agencies in terms of intelligence sharing and operational overlap.
“We always try to identify the core mandate of each outfit and assign cases for proper handling whenever we arrest suspects,” he said.
He also said that the NSCDC interfaced with other security outfits in the area of training of its personnel.
“For instance, the 177 Guards Battalion of the Nigerian Army is training our men on arms handling.
“The NSCDC also recently trained 5,900 members of the vigilance groups and the Nasarawa State Youth Empowerment Scheme (NAYES), as community watchers. The goal is to impact on the security architecture of the state,” Mahmoud -Fari added.
The situation is the same in Niger where the Police Command says it has constituted a joint task force with other security agencies whose constant patrols had reduced cattle rustling and kidnapping.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr Dibal Yakadi, said in Minna that crimes had been contained in such places as Shiroro, Munya, Kontagora, Lapai, Suleja and Gurara local govetnment areas .
He said that security personnel had never recorded an inter-agency clash in the course of their duties, saying that such was unnecessary since the goal was the same.
“We have always known that partnership and collaboration are crucial to our success. We also know that we are working toward a single goal of protecting the society against insecurity,’’ Yakadi said.
Maj. Gen. Adeku Salihu, Commander, Headquarters Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Nigerian Army, Minna, said that armed security personnel were working in synergy to end the twin menace of kidnapping and cattle rustling in the state.
He said that joint security operation along with the Police, NSCDC and the DSS had greatly assisted in apprehending bad elements in the society.
The Commandant of the NSCDC in the state, Mr Philip Ayuba, spoke in the same vein, and disclosed that 124 operatives of the force had been deployed to tackle various crimes in collaboration with other security agencies.
He said that NSCDC personnel had been warned against any act of confrontation with personnel of other sister agencies, stressing that collaboration was very pertinent to the goal of providing security for the society.
“All the security agencies in the state will continue to compare notes to make sure that we are always ahead of anyone trying to cause unrest,’’ he stated.
The Commissioner of Police in Taraba, Mr. David Akinremi, has also commended the cordial working relationship among the various security outfits operating in the state.
Assessing the synergy existing among the Police, NSCDC, the Army and members of other paramilitary organisations in the state, Akinremi said that the outfits were working in synergy to secure the state.
“Joint patrol teams have been formed among the agencies to ensure effective coverage of the state, especially in troubled areas such as Sardauna, Takum, Wukari and Ibi local government areas,’’ he said.
Akinremi particularly commended the good exchange of intelligence among the forces, especially between the police and DSS, adding that such intelligence were kept confidential in order to secure the informants.
He, however, explained that the command was always mindful of people engaged as Vigilance Group members in rural communities because some of them had often turned out to be aiding and abating crime.
Speaking in the same vein, the Commandant of the NSCDC, Alhaji Kalilu Isa, said that there was a good working relationship among the main security agencies in the state.
He told NAN that the Police and the NDLEA had always worked together to effectively discharge their mandates.
“We have, on several occasions, arrested those involved in drug business and handed them over to the NDLEA for prosecution.
“We have similarly apprehended several cable and transformer vandals and handed them over to the police for prosecution,” he further explained.
Similarly, Mr Ishaku Kwajafa, who is the NDLEA Commander in Taraba, appreciated the level of synergy among the security outfits operating in the state.
“Sister security agencies have been assisting us and we have, over the years, operated together in tackling criminal elements in the society,’’ Kwajafa said.
A cross section of security chiefs in Benue spoke in similar vein, and attributed the reduction in the violence in the state to such collaboration.
The Controller of Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) in the state, Mr David Pevigo, said the prisons shared regular information with the police, especially on classified documents.
Also, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Fatai Owoseni, told NAN that his Command had a strong synergy with other security agencies in the state toward minimising crime.
“Apart from the security agencies, the police have strong partnership with local communities from where we receive information,’’ Owoseni said.
Also speaking on the inter-agency relationship amongst the security outfits in the state, the commandant, NSCDC, Benue Command, Shuaib Mahmud, said that the command had enjoyed massive support from sister security agencies.
“The NSCDC provides training to local security guards who help in maintaining security in the state.
“If the guards are trained by professionals like our personnel, they will know how to handle security challenges when they occur in their environment,’’ he said.