The retired Major General of the Nigerian Army, Paul Tarfa, warned the federal government about the dangers associated with the prevalence of security threats in the country.
According to him, threats such as Boko Haram in the northeast, the indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB) in the southeast and banditry in the northwest have assumed complex and multifaceted dimensions ranging from terrorism, insurgency, robbery, armed banditry. , kidnapping and other various vices.
Tarfa, who gave this warning yesterday in Abuja at the national summit on non-kinetic approaches to insecurity and inter-agency collaboration, championed by the Development and Commonwealth Office of Foreign Relations, said the country should promote both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches, as well as institutional. response to address prevailing security threats in Nigeria.
The retired military suggested that the government could view diplomacy, development, moral suasion, de-radicalization, and peacebuilding as non-kinetic approaches to combat security threats in the country.
Tarfa, who lamented that the prevailing security threats in Nigeria have continued to undermine the rule of law and good governance, argued that the development also threatens national security and the country’s socio-economic development.
He stressed the importance of engaging traditional institutions, religious leaders, academia, the community and opinion leaders towards sustainable peace and development.
“You need to understand to what extent they could be driven by proactive, pre-conflict and post-conflict resolutions rather than ad-hoc strategies,” Tarfa added.
According to him, the essence of the summit was to introduce a cordial and relaxed environment, designed to encourage security actors, opinion leaders and leaders of strategic professional groups, to fraternize and challenge the trend towards increased violence in the country and draw a suitable scheme. path to sustainable peace and development.
For his part, the Director General of the National Guidance Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari, explained that the creation of genuinely effective inter-agency cooperation structures has enabled the United Kingdom to respond more effectively to emerging threats and provide a comprehensive government response to address terrorist threats in the UK.
According to Abari, peace and stability can be achieved when the factors driving insecurity are well understood and efforts are made to address them, adding that using a securitized response is only part of the solution and is inadequate to address. to increased security.