The Minister of Police Affairs, Sen. Ibrahim Gaidam has called for a holistic and multifaceted approach to address the challenges of terrorism facing the West African sub-region.
Gaidam made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at the opening of a two-day stakeholders’ conference on security in Nigeria with the theme, “A Path to Regional Cooperation”.
He said the conference was organised by the Ministry of Police Affairs in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force and the National Central Bureau (NCB), Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that participants at the conference were drawn from the various law enforcement agencies in the country.
“Addressing the challenge of terrorism requires a holistic and multifaceted approach.
“Implementing International Standard and good practice of sound, modern, integrated and cooperative border management will go a long way in putting an end to this threat,” he said.
He said the conference would deliberate on the way forward to achieving a stable regional security with focus on strategies to strengthen collaboration among Interpol member countries in West Africa.
The minister said the idea was to foster partnerships, to share intelligence, expertise and approaches to combat trans-border crimes.
Gaidam called for relentless efforts among stakeholders to prevent and counter the evolving threat of terrorism and violent extremism in the sub-region.
“The sub-region’s maritime border has continued to be a major source of threat as it is largely porous and unmanned.
“This has resulted in smuggling, narcotic/human trafficking, illegal migration as well as movement of arms and ammunition,” he said.
He said the Federal Government had worked immensely to curb the insurgency caused by Boko Haram, bandits and other transnational crimes.
Gaidam said some of the measures were the introduction of biometric systems at border checkpoints, integration of data analytics into border security operations and deployment of surveillance drones along critical border regions.
According to him, these are moves in the right direction which could be replicated in other countries in the West African sub-region.
The minister said insecurity had aggravated instability and setbacks in the sub-region.
He expressed optimism that effective information sharing and cooperation among the countries in the region were critical to addressing the challenges.
“We must therefore prioritise long term solutions aimed at addressing the root causes of insecurity.
“This conference will no doubt identify where there are bottlenecks over the years and come up with lasting solutions to incidences of crimes and insecurity.
“Promoting the universal legal instruments against terrorism, aiding domestic implementation of those instruments and facilitating cooperation nationally and regionally could result in a terrorism-free future,” he said.
In his remark, the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, said most perpetrators of crimes operate under the influence of drugs.
Marwa, represented by Mr Kennedy Zirangey, said most of the drugs were smuggled into Nigeria through Niger, Chad, Mali and other North African countries.
He commended the Office of the National Security Adviser for setting up a Multi-Agency Committee that visited the ports in the country to destroy containers of drugs.
The NDLEA boss said over 200 containers of drugs were destroyed between January and March
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