The National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (Rtd) has said that presence of terrorists around nations’ critical assets like Kainji and Shiroro Dams posed dire national security threats.
Monguno made the disclosure during
the validation exercise for the maiden edition of the draft critical national infrastructure national policy for protection assets and strategy 2023 at the Transcorp Hilton hotel today.
NSA was represented by the Principal General Staff Officer, ONSA, Major General Sadiq Ndalolo.
According to him, in the North West, bandits and terrorist groups target transportation infrastructure and educational institutions.
“The presence of these groups, especially near Kainji and Shiroro dams, further constitutes major security threats to the zone. In the South East, attacks on infrastructure such as police stations, security checkpoints amongst others, are suspected to be orchestrated by members of the Eastern Security Network.
“In the South West, noticeable threats to Critical National Assets and Infrastructure have resulted from armed robbery, targeted at banks and financial institutions, as well as wanton destruction of public infrastructure in the wake of public disorders, as the
“Meanwhile, the attacks on assets and infrastructure in the South-South are primarily driven by militant activities especially, pipeline vandalism and oil theft. Furthermore, piracy presents yet, another challenge in the Nigerian maritime domain, which such as straddles the zone.
“The threat almost crippled the maritime transportation supply line as shipping premium insurance for shipping increased in response to much piracy concerns. Nonetheless, it is quite reassuring that the Nigerian Navy and other maritime stakeholders have significantly curbed this threat.
“The deployment of both kinetic and non-kinetic mechanisms by the government has considerably succeeded in protecting and safeguarding our Critical National Assets and Infrastructure in recent years. Nonetheless, there is however the need to develop and continuously review measures to address dynamic threats to our infrastructure. This validation exercise therefore, could not have come at a better time.”
According to the Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, the event is a historic moment for him not just as an individual, but for Nigeria as a nation.
“Today’s occasion is historic in the sense that it clearly marks the beginning of our official departure from the past dispositions in the Critical National Assets and Infrastructure (CNAI) protection landscape where unilateralism instead of multilateralism reigned.
“Where individualism rather than collectivism was the order of the day, or where parochialism as opposed to cosmopolitanism guided how agencies approached CNAI protection.
Hitherto, the stakeholder tendency was for individual agencies to attempt to do it alone, but as a discovery that opened up to us a new vista, the phenomenon of “Critical Infrastructure Dependency and Interdependency” has become one of the most compelling reasons for a united front in collective action.
“As CNAI have today increasingly been interconnected to each other due to technological exigencies, their vulnerabilities to attacks have multiplied, and so have the risks of cascading or knock-on effects on other CNAI as a result of the attack on one or few; making it difficult to recover from the consequences of attacks.
“Thus coming together in relevant sectoral, cross-sectoral, cross- national, transnational security alliances to tackle common problems has become an inevitable global approach to CNAI security and resilience, as well as a recognized tool of international cooperation.” He said.
He added: “This is the fulcrum of our gathering here today as we take bold steps to commence the process of endorsing this document, the CNAI-NPPS 2023 which is the document that establishes or consolidates multi- stakeholder protection partnerships for CNAI for the first time in Nigeria at the national level between the coordinating, lead and support agencies as well as other relevant stakeholders from within and outside the shores of Nigeria.
“It is pertinent to state that work started intermittently on the CNAI-NPPS soon after the protection mandate was handed down to the NSCDC through its Enabling Act of 2003 (as amended in 2007). This was a period he Corps was taking gradual but steady steps to understand systemic dynamics, local and global trends as well as establish industry practice.”