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Tinubu Talks Tough To Service Chiefs


• Directs them to provide adequate security measures

• Says working at cross purposes’ll no longer be condoned

President Bola Tinubu, yesterday, read the riot act to security chiefs, warning that a situation where security agencies work at cross purposes will no longer be condoned.

In what was his first meeting with the security chiefs, Tinubu said he would no longer accept a situation in which the nation’s fortunes keep declining.

He said in his own trajectory, national security has to be coordinated, and that there must be a clearing house going forward.

National Security Adviser (NSA), Major Gen. Babagana Mungonu (retd), who addressed State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting said Tinubu mandated security agencies to come up with a blueprint declaring he doesn’t have the luxury of time and that whatever changes that has to be made would be made as soon as possible.

Mungonu said the meeting was held between the president and members of the general security appraisal committee consisting of the chief of staff, service chiefs, Inspector General of Police, and heads of the intelligence agencies.

He said the meeting lasted two hours and that having been briefed by the participants of the meeting, the President addressed prevailing issues confronting the nation in terms of insecurity and also mentioned his own philosophy towards dealing with national security issues.

The NSA quoted the president as saying: “All agencies must work to achieve one single purpose. Working at cross purposes and colliding with each other is not something that he will condone.

“He has made it very, very clear that all the security agencies must comply with the demands of coordination, with the demands of frequent consultations and also timely reports which must be acted on. The president also has decided that what ever ventures the armed forces are going to be engaged in henceforth, they must carry along those operatives in the theatre. They must be well fed, well kitted, motivated and given all that they require.”

He said the President appreciated the armed forces and intelligence agencies and the wider paramilitary agencies for the work they have been doing in the past couple of years in their sacrifices, loyalty, and also paid tribute to those who died defending the country, from terrorism, insurgency banditry, oil theft, sea robbery, piracy, etc, etc.

He said: “The President has made it very, very clear that he’s determined to build on whatever gains have been made and to reverse misfortunes and turn the tide in our favour. As far as he’s concerned, this country should not be on its knees struggling while other countries are walking and achieving greater heights.

“The President has revealed that in moving this country forward he needs the security agencies to redouble their efforts. And he’s also pointed out that his own philosophy is one of contemporary security measures dealing with the requirements of the time. He has made it very clear that he will not accept a situation in which our fortunes keep declining. And his own trajectory is that national security has to be coordinated, there has to be wherever whatever it says whether it is a basket system, but there must be a clearing house.

“All agencies must work to achieve one single purpose. Working at cross purposes and colliding with each other is not something that he will condone. He has made it very, very clear that all the security agencies must comply with the demands of coordination, with the demands of frequent consultations and also timely reports which must be acted on.

“He is going to embark on a lot of reforms in terms of our security architecture, he is going to take a closer look at our misfortunes in the maritime domain, focusing particularly on the issues of oil theft, that is not going to tolerate. Wherever the problem is coming from it must be crushed as soon as possible. He has already mandated by the security agencies to come up with a blueprint as far as he knows, as far as it’s concerned, he doesn’t have the luxury of time. And whatever changes will be made have to be done as soon as possible.

“The President also has decided that what ever ventures the armed forces are going to be engaged in, they must carry along those operatives in the theatre. They must be well fed, well kitted, motivated and given all that they require. The president has said clearly that he will do whatever is within his powers to enable the operational elements, but that the intelligence agencies must also make their work easy for them by providing the type of intelligence that they require to carry out the assignment.” 

The service chiefs were led to the meeting by Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor. Those present were Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao, Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba; Director-General of the Department of State Service(DSS), Yusuf Bichi; Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.



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