Insecurity: Presidential Think Tank on Defence Set For Summit On Protection Of Nation’s Critical Infrastructure

By Aviashima Toom, Abuja

The Presidential Think-Tank on Defence and Security is set to forge a common front to address the ugly development at an upcoming national summit for major stakeholders in Abuja.

This is alarmed by the increasing rate of insecurity and insesane destruction of the the country's critical infrastructure in the recent past, 

The task force put in place by President Muhammadu Buhari as part of efforts to address the nation’s general insecurity, headed by Major Gen Abdulmalik Jibril (rtd), who disclosed this to journalists on Thursday in Abuja stated that the security of “lives, properties and national assets is a collective responsibility of all and sundry” and such should be given priority attention.

Other members of the Committee includes; retired AIG, Henry Adebayo Fadairo; (rtd); AVM Dick Iruenabere (rtd),  Codr Manu Yagada (rtd).

According to him, “To this, the group will be organising a summit on the theme: ‘Protecting Nigeria’s Critical Infrastructure, Monuments and Business Assets,’ to hold in Abuja from 6th-7th of December 2021.

“The time has come for stakeholders to sit together and find a common ground to address the insecurity in the country because issues of security, destruction of lives and property know neither religion nor ethnicity.

“We need the partnership and support of all stakeholders, both in the public and private sectors, with diverse political, religious and professional orientations to put aside all prejudices to help forge a common front to confront the monster that is threatening the integrity of our corporate existence as a people and as a nation.”

The chairman of the Presidential Think-Tank Task Force explained that the conference was basically a response to the call-to-arms of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,  Muhammadu Buhari, to the Armed Forces, Intelligence and security establishments, business owners as well as to all residents of Nigeria to work in concert to “reduce the vulnerability of the nation’s critical national infrastructure to threats and hazards, on the one hand, and improving the resilience of such critical national infrastructure by strengthening their ability to withstand and recover from disruption.”

He added that the task would involve a number of measures ranging from physical protection to prevent damage or disruption;  building a level of reliability into them so that they can continue to operate even after an attack; ensuring that there are backup systems; putting in place organisations that can rapidly respond effectively to threat events to enable such infrastructure to recover quickly from disruptions among other.”

According to him, the summit was also about getting owners of such critical national infrastructure to network with subject-matter experts to bring their whole-of-society perspectives to bear in developing or contributing to the development of policy.

“The choice of topics and the quality of resources persons invited scheduled to make presentations is a reflection of the seriousness attached to this summit.”

Some of the speakers expected at the conference include Prof Niran Oluwaranti – Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Maj Gen Emeka Onumajuru, Deputy Commandant National Defence College and Prof UA Tar – Head, Centre for Defence Studies and Documentation, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna.