By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC), 2 Division of Nigerian Army, Major General Kasimu Abdulkareem on Thursday declared that the non-state actors groups are now posing grave threat to national security in Nigeria.
Major Gen Abdulkareem stated this at the inauguration of the 2016 Operational Planning Cadre for officers in the 2 Division of Nigerian Army in Ibadan.
According to the GOC, the non-state actors are the groups such as the Boko Haram insurgents, Niger Delta Avengers, Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) and other militant groups.
He pointed out that the four-day awareness seminar was fashioned to elaborate on the threat analysis of the operational environment in line with the vision of the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai.
The GOC stressed that in the new environment, non-state actors pose grave threat to national security, saying, “manifestations and trajectory of these threats have brought new dynamics to conflict environment”.
He maintained that activities of Niger Delta militants, secessionists bid of MASSOB and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are being observed and closely monitored.
Emphasizing that the need for Nigerian Army to be on top of the security situation is of paramount importance, Major Gen Abdulkareem said “security agencies must therefore close ranks, train together and share intelligence so as to defeat emerging threats”.
The GOC emphasized that within the first 20 years of the 21 Century,the warfare in the world has shifted from inter-county to intra-country, adding the “first two decades of the 21 Century witnessed a paradigm shift from symmetric to asymmetric warfare”.
Major Gen Abdulkareem however said in spite of these challenges, significant achievements have been made in progressively dismantling terrorists’ infrastructure and denying them freedom of action.
The awareness seminar is being attended by personnel of the Nigerian Army, Department of State Security (DSS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
In his remark,the Special Adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi of on Security Matters, Mr. Segun Abolarinwa, lauded the 2 Division of Nigeria Army for organising the seminar, which would give room to cross-fertilisation of ideas among security agencies in honing the skills of security personnel in operational planning.
