Timely reminder of the best global practices – Blueprint Newspapers Limited

The criticisms leveled against the general manager of the Department of State Services (DG DSS), Oluwatosin Adeola Ajayi, for his defense for security based on the community, which is in tune with the best global practices, is because the pragmatic essence of his message was misunderstood.

The DG DSS issued the declaration during a conference on security by stating: “You do not expect that the army, the police and the Nigerian SSS protect every Nigerian”, reflects a deeper frustration for the persistent insecurity of Nigeria; However, some fault seekers have misunderstood the pragmatic essence of his message and are kidding on a hand -flight request.

Far from being responsible, Ajayi is pushing for a more inclusive, modern and adaptive security paradigm and not the type of security architecture in the jungle.

It is not realistic to expect that Nigeria’s security forces are extended between 36 states and over 774 local governments can protect each citizen alone, every village and in every road, at any time

The scale and flexibility of modern security threats, ranging from bandits to terrorism and computer crime, require a wider and more basic approach.

The comment of the DG DSS does not report despair but a real strategy that builds resilience from the locals.

The idea that communities should be involved in their safety is not a radical descent of duty. It is consistent with successful models all over the world.

For example, countries like the United States of America still have federal security agencies but have a community based on the community as complementary. So, because Nigeria does not have neighborhood watches, local surveillance groups and partnerships of the community police who would work in the villages, since they have a better knowledge of their land.

What Mr. Ajayi is proposing, is not running civilians of sticks, but equipping communities with intelligence, awareness, coordination and legal support to play a proactive role. Even in cases where communities have a certain level of ammunition, orientation, profiling and authorization are fundamental.

The subjects in Critisims are totally ignorant of the proposed approach or are in a hidden left revenge against the intelligence service and exploit a simple patriotic alarm, to erroneously suggest that the head of the DSS wants to download the constitutional duty of the government. Forgetting to add that he also explicitly asked for collaboration: for the elites to involve their communities and collaborate with the safety agencies.

Complain about the president’s foreign trips or compare the initiative of Mr. Ajayi with an abandonment of duty is a distraction without foundation.

Strategic leadership requires vision, delegation and reform. DSS is recognizing that if you wait for a threat to reach your door, you have already failed. By authorizing local communities, the DG DSS is supporting preventive protection and not the reactive police.

Nigeria’s security problems foresee the APC for a long time and even democracy itself. While the party has not kept all its promises, to attribute any challenge to the governance of the APC era excessively simplifies a complex question. Insecurity is so much a product of the global proliferation of weapons, regional instability, climatic migration and socio-economic despair as well as political leadership.

Turn off the DSS is not a solution. It is a provocation. At a time when citizens want leadership, the worst anyone who can propose to dismantle one of the few institutions positioned to respond to emerging threats.

What is necessary is not destruction, but the reform of the total safety structure of the nation, the most inclusive investments and partners who involve the locals. The DSS, however, is not shaking a white flag but simply plays an alarm and invites the Nigerians to be part of the answer.

Ahmed Isa, an internal security analyst, writes from

Abuja