Again, Obasanjo laments pervasive insecurity in Nigeria

Agency ReporterMay 20, 2018

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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has again decried the pervasive insecurity across the country, saying he does “not know of any Nigerian living or dead today who could boast of being adequately secured.”

Obasanjo recalled that he met on grounds, challenges of insecurity in the country, but said his administration took proactive measures such as carrying out a lot of reforms in the military and signing into law Acts that formally established the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC).

The arrowhead of the formation of the Coalition of Nigeria Movement (CNM) that recently fused into African Democratic Congress(ADC) to wrest power from President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) said he would support an amendment of the NSCDC Act, if there is any lacuna, to accommodate private security professionals to help curb sundry security threats in the country.

Obasanjo who spoke at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library(OOPL), Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on Saturday during the ASIS International 2018 leadership retreat with the theme: Building Capacity for Professional Growth, however, said such private security professionals should be effectively monitored, supervised and controlled by the NSCDC.

ASIS International 2018 is a global body of professional private security providers while the Lagos chapter of it designated as ASIS 206, organised the retreat.

The ex-President identified corruption, bad economy, nepotism, and poor leadership as some of the drivers of the current security threats in the country.

He also identified four cardinal things that should be in place if the nation expects to witness reduction or cessation of the wave of security threats posed by the insurgents, violent herdsmen, kidnappers among others.

According to him, good governance, good leadership, development and reclaiming of Nigeria’s core values which emphasized honest means of livelihood, would drastically, if not totally, eliminate all of the security threats plaguing the country.

Obasanjo noted that a good leader must have experience both in good and bad sides of life that would help him to strategize on how to handle any threat.

The Chairman of ASIS 206 Lagos Chapter, Oluwaseyi Adetayo said that the NSCDC law if reviewed, would guarantee the professionalism of private security practice in the country as well as boost the economy in the areas of employment opportunities and securing assets.

“ASIS International has been providing the platform for networking, education, information on new technology and training for all security professionals all over the world on an annual basis in the United States,” Adetayo said.

He explained that the theme of the retreat “Building Capacity for Professional Growth” was arrived at in order to attend to one of the major gaps in our industry, which is leadership.

“As many of us have grown to strategic leadership level in our various businesses, it is only important that we back professional and technical knowledge with required leadership skills,” he state.