Insecurity: Oshiomhole advocates review of NSCDC Act • Why I wrote book on security dilemma – NSCDC FCT Commandant, Odumosu
By Trek Africa Newspaper
Chairman, Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, has advocated a review of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC Establishment Act, arguing that the word “civil” in the agency’s name no longer reflects the realities of the threats its operatives confront.
He made the call at the National Defence College NDC on Friday in Abuja while delivering remarks at the launch of a book titled “Nigeria’s Security Dilemma: Rivalries and Implications Vol. 1,” authored by Dr Olusola Odumosu, the Federal Capital Territory FCT Commandant of the NSCDC.
Oshiomhole said the concept of a “civil” defence corps implies a force without firearms, yet operatives are routinely deployed against heavily armed criminals destroying public assets and engaging in illegal oil bunkering.
“If the criminals you have to fight carry a sophisticated weapon, you who is fighting them, your weapon should be nothing less than sophisticated,” he said, adding that the current arrangement leaves operatives “civil” while confronting “hardened criminals.”
The lawmaker also called for stronger collaboration among security agencies, insisting that intelligence sharing should not be treated as optional.
He recommended that the Department of State Services DSS work closely with the Police and the Army, feeding them intelligence to act upon. Oshiomhole cited his experience as a former state governor, where military escorts provided firepower cover for operatives executing intelligence-led raids against kidnappers, resulting in the arrest of “many” suspects.
He, however, lamented that successful arrests were sometimes undermined at the prosecution stage, citing instances where judges granted bail or discharged suspects despite the effort invested in apprehending them. “It’s dangerous if they are found to be discharged,” he said.
On interagency rivalry, the senator stressed that national security must rise above partisan or institutional interests. “When it comes to security, there is no PDP, no APC… we need to understand that,” he said, urging operational heads to ensure that directives given to field commanders are matched with adequate equipment, morale and welfare for personnel.
Earlier, the Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa, represented by Rear Admiral Olusanya Bankole (retd), said he personally reviewed a draft of the book about two weeks ago and noted its treatment of interagency rivalry. He said steps were already underway to strengthen collaboration among security agencies, stressing that “the stability of Nigeria is more important than the ego of any agency.”
In his review, Prof Tyoor Ternhemba, said the book was coming at a critical time the nation was going through serious and unimaginable security challenges which he described as” “asymmetric war.”
He said it is time for all hands to be on deck, adding that it is not a time for rivalry among the security agencies if the nation must fight the common enemies.
“There is a need to come together to fight our common enemies. Whether the Army, the Police, the Civil Defence, and others, all hands must be on deck now.”
He decried lost of many lives as a result of lack of intelligence sharing among the security agencies.
In his welcome address, Deputy Commandant General, Zakari Ibrahim Ningi, in charge of Technical Services, who represented the Commandant General of the NSCDC, Prof. Ahmed Audi, said insecurity had become a global phenomenon affecting every sector of human endeavour, of which Nigeria is not an exception, adding that the timing of the book’s launch could not have been better.
Speaking on the motivation for the book, the author, who is also the NSCDC FCT Commandant, Dr. Olusola Odumosu said he wrote the book to advocate for unity among the security agencies to have a united front against the enemies of the nation.
“I am looking at security from a very holistic perspective and then looking at all the intricate webs of insecurity and challenges that we have, there is need for a united front between security agencies because the challenges are beyond what one agency or individual can do.
“No one has a monopoly of wisdom or knowledge or strategy. So there is need for us to come together and wage war against criminality, against the insecurity, against banditry, against kidnapping with a common front and that is what I’m trying to preach.
“Of course we have been having issues around unhealthy inter-security agency rivalry which of course has been a bane to national responses to our security challenges. So I’m looking at it from that perspective, where all the security agencies can understand that we must have the same focus, the same goal and that whether your mandate is inter-twined or interwoven we have a collective responsibility to ensure peace and order in Nigeria.”
The Commandant said the common goal among all the security agencies is to arrest criminality and bring insecurity to a thing of the past.
“And of course we can only do this by sharing intelligence. But when we continue to fight each other, when we continue to see each other as competitors rather than to cooperate we still have a lot of work to do.”
The Inspector General of Police IGP, Olatunji Disu, was represented at the event by the FCT Commissioner of Police as Special Guest of Honour, while the book was formally launched by Hon. Tayo Odumuyiwa, who launched it with N20 million.
