Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Saturday advised security officers to be friendly with residents in their host communities, being the primary source of intelligence gathering.
Ambode, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr Idiat Adebule, gave the advice at the Passing Out Parade of Cadet Officers Basic Course 29/2016 of the Department of State Services Academy, Ojo, Lagos.
He also urged them to be diligent, disciplined and dedicated to the responsibility of ensuring the security of lives and property.
”The constitution makes security a direct responsibility of government.
”The training and retraining of security personnel are part of government strategies to equip security officers with knowledge and skill to discharge their duties.
”The state government will continue to support our security agencies with equipment and facilities to enhance their performances in ensuring security for all,” he said.
Ambode urged the graduating cadets to be guided by the rule of law at all times.
In his address, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, said the threats posed by insurgents had challenged the human capital and other resources of the nation.
Abubakar said the Nigerian Air Force would continue to maintain a healthy working relationship with the DSS to achieve a strong security architecture to contain the security challenges facing the nation.
”The training of these fresh minds will boost the security system of the country.
”I have no doubt in my mind that their contributions to national service will be seen and appreciated in no distant time,” he said.
The Director-General of State Services, Alhaji Lawal Daura, said at the event that the security challenges facing the country required constant flow of critical intelligence.
”The security intelligence services are besieged with a lot of threats such as terrorism, insurgency, cyber-crime, corruption, kidnapping, espionage, subversion and others.
”To effectively deal with these, I urge you to fully apply the knowledge acquired to ensure availability of critical intelligence to drive the management of these threats,” he said.
In his remarks, Mr Felix Ikumapayi, Director, State Services Academy, said that the academy was graduating the 29th set of cadets since its establishment.
Ikumapayi said that out of the 849 persons inaugurated to resume the course on June 13, 2016, 487 scaled through all the hurdles successfully.
”This is the first time this large number of cadets will be enlisted and graduated from the academy.
”They have been trained in the areas of insurgency, intelligence gathering and operations, leadership, team building and other drills.
“They are therefore, thoroughly trained to go all out to discharge their duties,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the highlight of the event was the display of combat drills, driving drills and ground-breaking drills by officers. (NAN)