The President, Bola Tinubu, on Monday in Abuja, warned security agencies against disharmony and intelligence hoarding; these practices, he said, frustrate Nigeria’s counterterrorism efforts.
“You can’t have disharmony in an orchestra. We must focus on one tunnel…share information, share intelligence. You cannot hoard information. You cannot hoard intelligence,” Tinubu said when he toured the new Office of National Security Adviser and facilities at the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Abuja.
The Director of Information, State House, Abiodun Oladunjoye, disclosed this in a statement he signed on Monday titled ‘At new ONSA building, President Tinubu tasks security, intelligence agencies on sharing into to counter-terrorism.’
The warning comes four days after Tinubu told Service Chiefs at the General Security Appraisal Committee meeting that he would not tolerate them working at “cross purposes.”
The President had also directed them to crush oil theft as it stymies Nigeria’s oil output, even as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has agreed to allow Nigeria, Congo, and Angola to continue to produce maximally to their OPEC quota of 2023.
This time, however, Tinubu called for harmonised efforts, saying, “The effort of the entire armed forces of this country must be put together in a way that there will be one single focus on securing the country.
“You can’t have disharmony in an orchestra. We must focus on one tunnel; coordinate, share information, share intelligence, and work harder.
“You cannot hoard information. You cannot hoard intelligence. I am glad that Nigeria is on the path to success. We will, I assure you. We will make it a priority and that is why I am here this morning.”
While noting the efforts demonstrated in countering terrorism and the state-of-the-art facilities at the two facilities, President Tinubu highlighted the importance of backing such efforts with knowledge.
He said his administration had recognised that to achieve economic revival, prosperity, and development, security should be of optimum priority.
“Terrorism is not unique to Nigeria alone. It is across the world and we have to fight it. We have to eliminate it. If we as Nigerians are looking for economic revival, prosperity, and development, then we have to give priority to security.
“What I have seen here is a demonstration of intelligence efforts to counter-terrorism. This must be backed by knowledge.
“Counter-terrorism that is not backed by knowledge and intelligence is not going to be of any service to any nation. We are going to work on that together,” he said.
President Tinubu, who described the tour of facilities at the new ONSA building as crucial, expressed his willingness to do whatever was necessary to support the nation’s security architecture.
In his remarks, the NSA, Major-General Babagana Monguno (retd.), thanked the President for visiting, his first engagement outside the Villa, saying that “it reinforces his commitment, dedication and inflexible rigidity to ensuring that the security misfortunes of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and by extension, the sub-region are overcome within the shortest possible time.”
Monguno pledged the total commitment and dedication of ONSA to ensure that President Tinubu realises the promises he made to the Nigerian people on security.
