"He has already mandated the security agencies to come up with a blueprint. As far as he knows, he doesn't have the luxury of time..."
President Bola Tinubu Thursday charged the heads of Nigeria's security agencies to come up with a blueprint to tackling the security challenges bedevilling Nigeria, an official has said.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, who briefed journalists at the State House Abuja after the meeting Mr Tinubu had with security chiefs, said the president also condemned the security situation in many parts of the country.
"He has already mandated the security agencies to come up with a blueprint. As far as he knows, he doesn't have the luxury of time and whatever changes will be made, have to be done as soon as possible," Mr Irabor, an army general, said.
"The President has made it clear that he will not accept the situation in which our fortunes keep declining. His own trajectory is that security has to be coordinated, whether it is a basket situation, it must be a clearing house."
The National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, also told journalists that Mr Tinubu charged the security agencies not to work at cross purposes.
"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," Mr Monguno said. "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."
Thursday's meeting is the first Security Council meeting to be presided by Mr Tinubu since he was sworn in as president on Monday.
Read the transcript of the interview Messrs Irabor and Monguno granted journalists below.
Lucky Irabor
"The president is determined to reverse misfortunes and turn the tide in our favour. As far he is concerned, this country should not be on its knees struggling while countries are working and achieving greater heights. The president has resolved that in moving this country forward, he needs the security agencies to redouble their efforts.
"The President has made it clear that he will not accept the situation in which our fortunes keep declining. His own trajectory is that security has to be coordinated, whether it is a basket situation, it must be a clearing house. All agencies must work together to achieve on purpose. Working at cross purposes and colliding with each other, is not something that he will condone. He has made it clear that all the security agencies must comply with the demands of coordination, the demand of frequent consultation 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 will take a closer look at our misfortunes in the maritime domain focusing particularly on the issues of oil theft, that he is not going to tolerate. Wherever the problem is coming from, it must be crushed as soon as possible.
"He has already mandated the security agencies to come up with a blueprint. As far as he knows, 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 whatever ventures the armed forces are going to engage in, they must carry along those operatives in the theatre, they must be well fed, well catered for, motivated and given all that they require. The president has said he will do whatever is within his powers to enable the operational elements but the intelligence agencies must also make their work easier by providing the type of intelligence that they require to carry out their assignment."
Babagana Monguno
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of the press, the President, Commander In Chief of the Armed Forces has just concluded a meeting of the general security appraisal committee consisting of the Chief of Staff, service chiefs, Inspector General of Police, and heads of the intelligence agencies.
This is the very first meeting he's had with the heads of the security agencies. The meeting lasted two hours.
Having been briefed by the participants of the meeting, Mr. President, addressed prevailing issues confronting the nation in terms of insecurity and also mentioned his own philosophy towards dealing with national security issues.
First and foremost, he 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. Their sacrifice, their loyalty, and he also paid tribute to those who died in defending this country, from the great big menace of terrorism, insurgency banditry, Oil theft, sea robbery, piracy, etc, etc.
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 also pointed out that his own philosophy is one of the 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.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
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 he is not going to tolerate. Wherever the problem is coming from it must be crushed as soon as possible.
He is already mandated by the security agencies to come up with a blueprint as far as he knows as far as it's concerned, it 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 whatever 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.
President has said clearly that he will do whatever is within his powers to enable the operational elements but 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. Thank you very much.
.jpg){kind=link}