President Bola Tinubu met with the service chiefs at the State House in Abuja today June 1. This will be his first meeting with the security chiefs since he assumed office on May 29.
In attendance at the meeting were the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao; and the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba. Others include the Director-General of the Department of State Service(DSS), Yusuf Bichi; and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.
At the meeting, President Tinubu said all security agencies must be on the same page and operate with synergy and also read the riot act to the security chiefs . The President also added that the national security has to be coordinated and that he will not accept anything contrary.
Speaking to statehouse correspondents after the meeting, the National Security Adviser, Babagana Mongonu, said
“All agencies must work to achieve one single purpose. Working at cross purposes and colliding with each other is not something that he will condone,” the NSA said.
“He has made it very, very clear that all the security agencies must comply with the demands of coordination, with the demands of frequent consultations and also timely reports which must be acted on.”
In his inaugural speech at the Eagle Square on Monday, President Tinubu promised to prioritize security, amongst other pressing areas.
‘’We shall defend the nation from terror and all forms of criminality that threaten the peace and stability of our country and our sub-region. Security shall be the top priority of our administration because neither prosperity nor justice can prevail amidst insecurity and violence. To effectively tackle this menace, we shall reform both our security doctrine and its architecture.
We shall invest more in our security personnel, and this means more than an increase in number. We shall provide, better training, equipment, pay, and firepower” he said
