Federal system puts internal security at risk — Obaseki

The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has said that the internal security in the country is at risk because the security system is controlled solely by the Federal Government.

He, however, noted that Edo State was largely crime-free due to the security interventions put in place by his government in collaboration with Federal security agencies.

Governor Obaseki disclosed this at the Women in Security Conference, organised by a body of professional security experts, ASIS International, in Lagos, on Thursday.

Speaking at the conference with the theme, ‘Developing Resilient Leaders for an Expanding Security Industry’, the Edo governor said women needed to be involved in the security system of the country because they tended to suffer a great deal of the burden of a failed security system.

Advertisement

He said, “The security structure is not aligned with the federal structure, because all the security operatives are controlled by the Federal Government. As a unit in the federal structure, it is an anomaly.

“You should have to police at the Federal, state, and Local Government Areas. We will continue to put pressure on the government to devolve security.

“When the security system of a country fails, the greatest burden falls on women. The fall-outs, the challenges, and the pains are on women. We can’t have a security system without women in our structure.”

Speaking on the security of Edo State, he said, “Lagos State is not the safest state in the federation. There is the idea of safety and the perception of safety. We have a crime response centre. We have huge data that has helped us in understanding, detecting, and curbing crime in our state. We also have deep collaboration with the security agencies, while we liaise with the Directorate of State Security when it comes to engaging private sector security agencies.”

Responding to the alleged reactive nature of security response in the state, he said, “It seems so because they (the media) are reporting incidents. There is a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes. Some informants track movements, there is the use of technology. When there is a slip, it is reported. What we do, how we analyse data, and how we respond to it to reduce crime (is not reported).”

Speaking on the rationale behind the conference, the Vice Chairman of ASIS International, Joko Olanitori, said the conference was meant to tackle unique security challenges facing the country.

She said, “This is also in the context of an operating environment with vulnerability, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, whilst noting the unique security challenges facing Nigeria.

“As examples, the level of crime is high across most Nigerian states. Nigeria has a 21.99  crime rate per 100,000 population, with Lagos State recording over 30 per cent of the national crime committed. Over 83 per cent of Nigeria enterprise in the small to medium size category experience cyber-attacks every year. To have a feel of the quantum.”

While contributing to the discourse of government and security, the former Director-General of the State Security Service, Lawal Daura, said leadership and insecurity were linked to political leadership.

He said, “Leadership and insecurity are linked with political leadership. It is a collective problem. Sometimes, the leader is restricted because of the issue of human rights or violating human rights, instead of doing some things that will protect society. All this makes it difficult to do security business.”

He, however, stressed that women are constrained in the insecurity business due to cultural limitations, including issues of consent from parents and husbands, which may disrupt their career goals in the industry.

In the keynote address of the conference, the Chairman of the ASIS International Lagos Chapter 206, Peter Okoloh, said the Women in Security Conference was created  to  “support and help women in the security sector, as well as to encourage those interested in entering the security industry through targeted programmes and mentoring.”