Nigerians return home, Lagos, Murtala Mohammed International Airport, South African Airways, Nigerian returnees, repatriated Nigerians, philanthropy, private individuals, Ikem Ume-Ezeoke, Charles Mba, N50,000 cash gift, Nigerian government, returnees, Nigeria-South Africa relations, humanitarian support, Nigerians abroad, diaspora, patriotism, Nigeria
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, has inaugurated the committee recently established by President Bola Tinubu to prepare a comprehensive National Threat Assessment and a rolling five-year Strategic Defence Operations plan for the country.
The committee is to be coordinated by Office of Mr. President’s Special Adviser on Homeland Security, Major-General Adeyinka A. Famadewa (Rtd).
Some members of the committee include National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu; Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa; Minister of State for Defence, Alhaji Bello Muhammad Matawalle; and Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede.
Others are Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Waidi Shaibu; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas; Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu; Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS), Tosin Ajayi; and Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Muhammed Muhammed.
Akume urged the committee to attach importance to the assignment and deliver both documents within 90 days for the consideration and approval of the president.
He called for the highest degree of professionalism, objectivity, urgency, and patriotism in the committee’s approach by consulting or co-opting representatives of other ministries, departments and agencies whose specialised knowledge might be required in the course of its work.
The SGF stated that contemporary security threats were increasingly interconnected and adaptive, with the capacity to exploit gaps between institutions, jurisdictions, and operational theatres.
Akume added that the inauguration would strengthen the country’s capacity to understand, anticipate, plan for, and respond effectively to an increasingly complex and evolving security environment.
He lauded the recent successes by the armed forces and other security agencies across different theatres, stressing the need to move beyond responding to individual security challenges to establishing a system capable of anticipating threats, setting priorities, allocating resources rationally, and sustaining operational momentum.
He charged heads of defence, intelligence, and security agencies to retain the flexibility required to respond to immediate threats and hinge their responses on a shared national understanding of the security environment and a coherent short, medium, and long-term strategy.
The SGF explained that the committee was expected to help establish a coherent strategic system in which Nigeria’s assessment of threats would determine operational objectives, while the objectives would, in turn, determine the capabilities required.
