By Innocent Anaba
A foreign-trained security expert and Chief Executive, Scutarii Advisory Limited, Mr. Hilly Cookey-Gam, has said security and intelligence chiefs must understand that securing the nation is their constitutional duties and not the prerogative of Nigerians to determine when and how insurgency would end.
According to Cookey-Gam, although the Department of State Services, DSS, and National Intelligence Agency, NIA, have critical roles to play in the fight against insurgency, the responsibility falls mainly on the defense intelligence (in the army’s theatre of operations).
He noted that it provides intelligence on movements, weapons and activities of terrorists and bandits across the country.
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Cookey-Gam was reacting to statements by the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, on the growing insurgency in the country.
Buratai had said the prevailing terrorism and banditry across the federation would end if Nigerians resolve to halt the disturbing trend.
His statement came barely 48 hours after no fewer than 23 troops were ambushed and killed by bandits at Jibia districts in Katsina State.
However, Cookey-Gam said: “Immediately the military is called upon to fulfill this responsibility, it only establishes the failure of the DSS and NIA in this regard.
“Sadly, it is apparent that there is a total intelligence failure because though the information provided by Nigerians is welcomed, this should not form the basis of strategic and tactical intelligence.
“For terrorists and bandits to ambush our security forces, evade aerial surveillance and coordinate their activities establishes, beyond any doubt, the lack of accurate intelligence gathering, analysis and synergy between the arms of the military and other agencies.
“It is, therefore, critically important for an urgent overhaul of the nation’s security architecture.”
He called on experts, both civilian and military, to come together to provide solutions to the problems of intelligence gathering and sharing, and form synergy between different arms of the military and the nation’s intelligence services.
Nigeria, according to him, urgently needs the office of national intelligence to coordinate the collection, analysis and dissemination of strategic intelligence to the National Security Council as well as tactical intelligence in the fight against critical security threats.
This, he said, would eliminate the problems of intelligence sharing, while enhancing the synergy between intra-military, intra-civilian and inter civil-military intelligence agencies as well as other sensitive agencies of the Federal Government.
He noted that “as a developing nation, we are currently witnessing the dangers of disregard for expert advice while learning the hard way in the national development and cohesion.
“Gone are the days when some see the Army as superior to other arms of the military and ignore the critical role of civilian agencies and corporations to national security.
‘’We can only choose to prevent further actions that are detrimental to national development and order or suffer more bloodshed, economic downturn or risk disintegration if we fail to accept expert advice.
“No country in history has succeeded by subjugating its people, establishing regional or ethnic hegemony or disregarded the importance of national consensus.”
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