President Bola Tinubu has approved the immediate preparation of a comprehensive National Threat Assessment and a rolling five-year Strategic Defence Operations Plan to strengthen coordination across Nigeria’s defence, intelligence and security capabilities.
Tinubu said his Special Adviser on Homeland Security, Major General Adeyinka A. Famadewa, will coordinate and provide secretariat support for the 11-man committee the president constituted to draft the strategic defence operations plan.
A statement by Tinubu’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said other members of the committee are the National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu; the Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa; the Minister of State for Defence, Alhaji Bello Muhammad Matawalle; the Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede; the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Waidi Shaibu; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke; and the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas.
The Director-General of the Department of State Service, Tosin Ajayi, and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Muhammed Muhammed, are also members of the committee.
According to the statement: “President Tinubu gave the directive on Wednesday at the Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House, Abuja, stressing the need for a coherent framework to respond to evolving security threats nationwide.
“The president said the new framework would provide a common understanding of the threats facing the nation, the operational objectives to be achieved and the capabilities required to address them.
“Recent security successes, including the rescue of pupils and teachers abducted in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, demonstrated the importance of improved coordination among defence, security and intelligence agencies.
“The operation demonstrated what can be achieved when our agencies work together with a clear objective and the necessary intelligence,” the president said.
