…As NIPR host summit on national security
By Douglas Blessing, Port Harcourt
The former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase (Rtd) has said that the advancement of technology is a threat to the internal security of the country.
The former IGP stated this recently, in his keynote address at the South South Citizen Summit for National Integration Peace and Security, organised in Port Harcourt by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).
Represented by Assistant Inspector of Police, Patrick Dokumo (Rtd), Arase stressed that the advanced technology gave birth to the troubling cybercrime, kidnapping, insurgency, separatism, armed robbery, fraud and other transnational crimes.
He noted the importance of technology in this era and advocated for a holistic overhaul of the Nigerian Police Force and internal secuirty architecture, in order to tackle the high insecurity challenging peace and stability of the country.
The former IGP maintained that opening a dialogue to discussed the people’s differences and diversity will engender national integration.
Arase listed kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery, cultism, terrorism as well as proliferation of firearms by unauthorised persons as major security threats to our national security.
“Technology as a component of internal security management appreciates that we live in a globalized world where technology is both a challenge and a solution. As a challenge, virtually all crimes are conceptualized and manifested with the aid of technology.
“Cybercrime, kidnapping, insurgency, separatism, armed robbery, fraud and other transnational crimes are all aided by technology in one way or the other. It therefore goes to say that the advancement in technology is indeed a threat to internal security.
“Conversely, technology is also a solution to internal security threats as it provides solutions (hardware and software) that could be engaged and deployed to prevent, detect, and disrupt elements that constitute threats. Indeed, modern internal security activities are increasingly driven by technology rather than numbers of women and men employed on security functions.
“There must be holistic reforms of the Nigerian Police Force and the country’s internal security system, with a view to funding, equiping, training and retraining of personnel to curb both interal and external aggression.”
According to Arase, Nigeria is facing serious security challenge contributed by political class, adding that failure to tackle the issue of unemployment has kept the country in a scaring condition today.
“The pursuit of limited resources, power and control has lead to terrorism and insecurity accross the country. Lack of religious and ideological tolerance have also led to mass killings, destruction of public properties across the country.
“The political class has also contributed in no small measures to insecuity across the country. Failure to provide employment to our teeming youths in the country, which has led many of them to go into crimes”.
He called for an open dialogue and discussion for national unity, stressing that the discussion should be targeted towards national integration unywgratoon coherence and unity.
“The citizen must join hands to build a secured nation. Tolerance, unity, equality must be entrenched in the minds snof all citizens.
“Also community policing is important, technologically driven policing, inter-agency and inter government collaboration to address internal secuirty from a modern perspecpective. Socio-economic approach, addressing the roots through developmental process, reduce the factors that induce internal security”.
In his address, the National President of NIPR, Malam Mukhtar Sirajo, called for unity in diversity.
Sirajo stated that the biggest endowment that God has blessed Nigeria with, is the county’s diversity. He noted that people are frustrated because of the state of the nation but advised all to harness the diversity for the peace and development of the Nigeria.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Rivers State Chairman of NIPR, Paulinus Nsirim, harped on the need to rebuild trust and break the jinx of ethnicity, religion and tribe.
Nsirim who is the Commissioner for Information and Communication, said: “Nigeria is at a crossroad but we will not import people into the country to solve the problem for us. Nigeria is a very blessed country but what we lack is the right leadership.
“The time has come for us as a people for us to rebuild our nation. For the youths, don’t allow yourself to br used as soldiers of negative propaganda against the country.”
