The National Economic Council (NEC) on Thursday approved the setting up a committee saddled with the responsibility of possible decentralization of the operations of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
The National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno stated this when he briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the Council’s meeting which was presided over Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The NSA, who disclosed that he briefed the Council on behalf of the security agencies, both operational and intelligence, on a general overview of the security situation in the country, maintained that security threats across the country were asymmetric in nature.
He said the formation of the committee was informed by the fact that the security threats could not be addressed within a short period of time
“I stressed upon the need to deal with these problems in a more collective manner. It is true that it is the responsibility of the security agencies to deal with these threats, but the complexities of insecurity in the 21st Century are such that you need a whole of government and a whole of society approach in dealing with these issues.
“I emphasized to the council the need for the state to collaborate with and support the federal government in dealing with each individual threats, and these threats differ from one zone to another, and find a way of linking with security agencies so that we can find a lasting solution.
“These things cannot be overcome within a short period that is the hard truth. What we have decided to do is to work on certain methods.
“For example the council decided that a committee would be set up with representation from each of the geo-political zone to be chaired by the IGP so that we find ways of decentralizing police operations so that there will be greater access to information and handling this situation will be easier rather than a centralized and cumbersome approach.’’
He said the council also reviewed the resolutions and recommendations of the 2017 Security Summit where state governors agreed to work with the security agencies on all the issues that were raised while all the recommendations would be revisited.
Monguno revealed that the Federal Government was also looking at other issues in dealing with problems coming from outside the shores of the country.
He said these problems were being collated by the security agencies and a team would set up under the supervision of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to deal with these threats.
The NSA also dismissed the insinuation that the Improvement in security situation across the country was as a result of the forthcoming 2019.
“Not really. What happened is that there has been continuous review of the activities of the various security agencies, successes and failures and so on and so forth.
“There has been deliberate attempt to try and take care of those areas that are most difficult.
“The fact that we have started making a breakthrough it is just coincidental with the fact that elections are approaching.
“Several new operations have been launched, these operations are being reviewed in a more coordinated manner with other agencies that are not directly within the military component but with other MDAs and that have resulted in improvement and it has nothing to do with elections approaching,’’ he added.
On the purported Red Cross report that 19,000 Nigerians were missing, the NSA said the report was being looked into by relevant government agencies with a view addressing the matter appropriately.