A National Summit on “Protection of Nigeria’s Critical Infrastructure, Monuments and Business Assets” which was slated for 6th to 7th December 2021 has been postponed to 28tth February to 1st March 2022.
The Summit which is being organised by the Presidential Think-Tank on Defence and Security and Ashcraft is a high priority project that aims to engender diverse Stakeholder synergy for real time management solutions and systemized rapid response strategy as well as harness expert/operational knowledge and country wide technical support to enhance threat mitigation and desired security outcomes; and explore further capabilities in the fight against banditry, kidnapping and other emergency recoveries.
Addressing a press briefing in Abuja Friday, Dr Chiakor Alfred who is the Chief of Strategy, Ashcraft Centre for Social Science Research Secretary, Planning Committee revealed that that the postponement was due to inconvenience on the part of the critical stakeholders as most of them were said to be winding down their operations for the year.
According to him, during the last press conference, the National Summit on Defence and Security being organized by Presidential Think-Tank on Defence and Ashcraft Centre for Social Science Research, Abuja, was a high priority project that aims to engender Stakeholder synergy for real-time management solutions and systemized rapid response strategy; harness expert/operational knowledge and country wide technical support to enhance threat mitigation and desired security outcomes; and explore further capabilities in the fight against banditry, kidnapping and other emergency recoveries.
“This is in alignment with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, to the Armed Forces, Intelligence and Security establishments, business owners as well as to all residents of Nigeria to work in concert to “reducing the vulnerability of the Nation’s Critical National Infrastructure to threats and hazards, on the one hand, and improving the resilience of such critical national infrastructure by strengthening their ability to withstand and recover from disruption.”
“After the Press conference on 18 November 2021, there has been a flurry of activities and intensification of engagement between the diverse Stakeholders, comprising (i) Members of Nigeria’s Defence, Security and Intelligence Agencies; (ii) the Regulators of the diverse Sectors in the Oil and Gas, Telecommunications, Education, Transportation, Power, Financial Institutions, etc; (iii) Operators of the Assets; (iv) Investors/Owners of the assets; and (v) the Civil Society Organisations/Non-Governmental Organizations/ Pressure groups and other Special Interest Groups within the general spectrum of the Society. In the course of these robust engagements, we were, unfortunately, inundated with complaints by some of the Stakeholders that they were being left out,” he said
“In the course of these engagements, we are amazed at the interests shown by all Stakeholders to the Summit. We also discovered unfortunately that several critical Stakeholders were not invited. Some lamented that the timing of the Summit was not convenient, considering that most of the corporate Organizations are winding down their operations for the year. The MDAs complained of defending their budgets at the National Assembly and would like to be given the opportunity to participate. Even the lawmakers complained of the uncompromising schedules at this time, he added.
Alfred noted that having examined all these concerns, there was a compelling need to postpone the Summit to a more convenient date as this give them more time to reach out to the other Stakeholders who were not invited.
“Consequently, I wish to confirm to you that the National Summit is officially postponed. It will now hold on Monday, 28th February and Tuesday, 1st March, 2022 at the Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.”
