Group Urges President Tinubu To Appoint Innovative Person As Security Adviser

A coalition of Civil Society Organisations has urged President Bola Tinubu to disregard politics in the appointment of the next National Security Adviser, NSA in Nigeria and give the position to an innovative person.

The group called on President Tinubu to consult widely and ensure that the right person was appointed into the office.

The Coalition of Civil Society on National and Community Security said at a press conference in Abuja that the new NSA must be a knowledgeable, innovative and experienced personality that understands the security architecture of Nigeria.

The Executive Director, The People’s Care and Advocacy Initiative, TPCAI, Danladi Isaac, who read the text of the briefing, asked President Tinubu to appoint “a personality that will earn technical support from global security apparatus for new secure Nigeria.”
Speaking further, Mr. Isaac said: “There is no room for mediocrity and lukewarmness.  A tried and tested hand that has transformed or built a national security and diplomatic outfit will be a good fit.
“There is no time for theoreticians and office workers.  It is urgent and critical.  There is a crying need for complete transformative change in the security architectures in Nigeria.”   

Isaac noted that banditary, kidnapping, farmer-herdsmen clashes, illegal mining and oil bunkering have reached astronomical and intolerable heights and must be handled by not just a competent man in just military security, but a proactive, bold, calculative, respected and accepted.

He said that issues of economic security, cyber security and electronic information systems are vital for maintaining the national security and must be in the front burner for the country’s NSA.

He says, “This is not the time to use the appointment of National Security Adviser for political compensation, but for national re-architecture and engineering of security systems.”

Describing President Tinubu as a vastly experienced politician, Isaac expressed hope that the president would not be influenced by political considerations in the appointment of the NSA.

He commended the president for the way he handled the issue of withdrawal of subsidy on petrol and doused the tension that would have resulted from the policy.

Also speaking, Mr. Romanus Azubike of the Centre for Strategy and Ethics and Value, said the next NSA must be abreast of the terrain of Nigerian communities to enable him to stop the farmer –herder clashes that have affected agricultural production in the country.

On his part, the Executive Director, Centre for Strategic Conflict Management, Dr. Isaac Iduma said that only an experienced knowledgeable NSA would bring his skills and expertise to bear in stopping the killings and abductions in different parts of Nigeria.

Confidence Okwuchi