By Sumaila Ogbaje
Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka, National Coordinator, National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), has called for enhanced inter-agency collaboration and cross-border relationships to stem the tide of terrorism.
Laka said this at the opening of the Counter Terrorism Theory and Practice Course, organised in collaboration with the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Uk, on Monday in Abuja.
He said the course facilitated by the Nigeria-UK Strategic Defence Partnership, had created the avenue for national development that embodies a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach in addressing terrorism concerns in Nigeria.
According to him, there is no doubt that terrorism has a profound negative impact on the nation, citizens as well as international partners.
Laka said that acts by terrorists and other criminal elements must be adequately tackled through continuous collaboration by security stakeholders.
He said that no agency could solely achieve laudable success in the fight against terrorism, emphasising the need to collaboratively identify individual crucial roles and collaborate to record great progress.
“It therefore stresses the need for inter-agency collaboration and cross-border relationships to stem this tide because terrorism recognises no borders.
“In view of this, the NCTC-ONSA in collaboration with the UK Counter Terrorism team seeks to address counter terrorism measures that could be employed in enhancing the Country’s national security through this course.
“This course reaffirms a call to re-awakening for collaborative efforts which we all must embrace, as victory by one is victory by all of us and a greater victory for our entire nation, the African continent and the world at large,’’ he said.
The Head, Counter-terrorism Network for West Africa, British High Commission, Lawrence Devlin, said the engagement seeks to build upon the UK’s commitment to Nigeria to address shared security challenges.
Devlin said the course would address the fundamental themes in counter terrorism taking a broad view of the security challenges posed by terrorists in the 31st century.
The Course Facilitator, Dr Aaron Edward, said the course was designed to get a firm understanding of the contemporary terrorist threat.
He said that the appearance of terrorism across the world in different countries had various traits which could become much more of a problem if not dealt with comprehensively.
According to him, understanding the security challenge that we face can lead to a much more productive outcome and to ultimately make our society safer. (NAN)
