The Presidential Think-Tank on Defence and Security has urged Nigerians to irrespective of political, religious and ethnic affiliations protect national infrastructure.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on behalf of the chairman of the committee Maj.-Gen. AM jibrin (rtd) on Thursday, a member of the committee AVM Dick Iruenabere (rtd) said such actions undermine investor confidence and inhibit the investments.
He said, “Such actions undermine investor confidence; inhibit the drive for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and capital growth, and truncate real business development in all sectors of the productive economy.
“In other words, productivity drops, rise in out-of-jobbers, poverty increases, resentment and more violence…develop is either stagnated or declines. We are seeing these in virtually all the geopolitical zones, therefore, a grave impact on our collective national interest.”
He added that security of lives, properties and national assets is the collective responsibility of all citizens.
“We believe that most of you are first and foremost patriotic Nigerians who are also concerned about what I earlier described as the alarming rate and rampant vandalization and destruction of Nigeria’s critical infrastructure, monuments and the unmitigated attacks on our critical assets.
“The security of our lives, properties and national assets is our collective responsibility and should be given priority attention. Issues of security, destruction of lives and property know neither religion nor ethnicity.
“We need the partnership and support of, and urge all stakeholders, both in the public and private sectors, with diverse political, religious and professional orientations to put aside all prejudices to help forge a common front to confront the monster that is threatening the integrity of our corporate existence as a people and as a nation,” he said.
As parts of efforts to categorise, codify and ensure synergy among all security agencies in the country, the committee is organizing a national summit on “Protecting Nigeria’s critical infrastructure, monuments and business assets,” in Abuja.
According to him, the summit is aimed at reducing the vulnerability of the nation’s critical national infrastructure to threats and hazards, on the one hand, and improving the resilience of such infrastructure by strengthening their ability to withstand and recover from disruption.
“Our world has changed! We are seeing agitations for all sorts of causes easily turning violent…and what these nonstate actors readily focus on are humans and some of these critical national assets…vandalization and destruction of assets in the oil and gas, telecommunications, ICT, maritime, education, railways, banking and other resources in the Public and Organised Private Sectors, etc., “ he said.
