Efforts to safeguard Nigeria’s critical infrastructures are being intensified as a summit to domesticate the outcome of a previous stakeholders’ resolutions on the matter for the South South Zone holds in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Dr Chiakor Alfred, Chief of Strategic Planning and Innovations of Ashcraft Centre for Social Science Research, the coordinator of the Summit coming up on the 25th and 26th of July, 2022, said that the forthcoming South-South Zonal Stakeholders Summit has as theme: “Domesticating Responsibilities in Stakeholders Statutory Protecting Nigeria’s Critical Infrastructures and other Assets.”
Dr Alfred said: “You will recall the successful convention of an earlier Summit held at the Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on Monday 28 February and Tuesday, 1 March, 2022 on the theme: Protecting the Integrity of Nigeria’s Critical Infrastructures, Monuments and Business Assets.
“That Summit was convened with the priority objective to infuse a national high end architecture for systemized response strategy; explore turnkey solutions for deterrence, threat mitigation and recovery; accelerate strategies for systematic intelligence generation and dissemination and increased security consciousness; establish a network of proactive Stakeholders, Agencies and Policy Making Institutions to initiate, follow up and implement creative strategies; rethink strategies for strengthening the ability of Business Assets to recover and withstand from disruption; galvanize synergy for the prioritization of the multi Agency/Joint Risk Management efforts to ensure the security and resilience of Nigeria’s critical Infrastructures and Assets in line with identified policy frameworks”, Dr Chiakor stated.
Explaining further, he said: “The imperative to domesticate the actionable blueprints and Resolutions derived from the Abuja Summit in the Geopolitical Zones and Host Communities form the basis of the convention of the South – South Regional Summit.
“You are no doubt aware that Nigeria is at present experiencing an intensity of insecurity, comparable to what obtained in Lebanon in the mid-1980s. The almost daily recurrent cases of terrorism, insurgency, cyber-crimes, banditry, kidnapping, piracy, oil bunkering, drug trafficking and other forms of organised crime, have created an entirely new security environment.
“Nigeria now faces more security threats that have different characteristics from classic military conflict between states. The gross expansion of the contours that define security boundaries makes it imperative to recognize the eco-systemic dimensions of the threats that stare at us daily and in every form.
“It is appropriate to regretfully recall the senseless slaughter of over a platoon of Soldiers in Shiroro – Niger State on Saturday, 2nd July, 2022; the deadly attack and invasion of Kuje Prisons by Terrorist Elements (ISWAP claimed responsibility) on Tuesday, 5th July 2022; the brazen attack on the advance team of the Presidential Convoy in Katsina State on the same Tuesday, 5th July 2022; the Owo Church attack in Ondo State on 5th June, 2022; the ransacking of the Tukur Yusufu Buratai Institute for War and Peace, Biu – Borno State by ISWAP terrorists on 10th January, 2022; the adduction and killing of priests in Kaduna, Edo and Benue States to name but an atrocious few. The mushrooming of these orgies of killings and destructions are gangrene to our national integrity”, he lamented.
The Ashcraft spokesman insisted that: “One of the most worrisome challenges to Nigeria’s national economic development is the systematic vandalism, degradation and destruction of its critical national infrastructures and business assets. The consequences of these criminal activities constitute adverse national security risks of untold proportions and impact our collective destiny gravely by undermining investor confidence; inhibiting the drive for Foreign Direct Investment, social capital growth & real business development; and truncating real progress in other sectors of the national economy.
“You will appreciate the unfortunate fact that the aggregation of uncertainties caused by the hostile operating environment has led to the liquidation and/or relocation to other countries of viable industries and business franchises that provided employment opportunities and other economic value chains to Nigerians. These have depressed the national economy and triggered high rates of unemployment and other attendant problems”, Dr Chiakor stated.
He said that the “intensity of the diverse and numerous crises of vandalisation and destruction of Nigeria’s infrastructures and assets has prompted, at several instances, the call to arms by His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Armed Forces, Intelligence and Security Establishment and all Nigerians to see it as a patriotic duty to ensure maximum vigilance and shared responsibility in the protection and security of these Assets and platforms at all points in their life-cycle.”
On the upcoming summit in Rivers State, Dr Chiakor said, “the South South Zonal Stakeholders Summit is therefore a Private/Public Sector Partnership that aims at building synergy, tact and appropriate techniques to enhance knowledge leadership & management in the development of a strategic road map for proactive intervention and response strategy in line with the Risk Management Framework and provisions of the National Protection Policy and Strategy 2022 (CNAINPPS 2022); Petroleum Industry Act, 2021; the National Security Strategy Framework; and the Critical National Infrastructure Bill, 2021 currently under consideration at the National Assembly.
“The South South Zonal Stakeholders Summit further aims to intensify advocacy for Stakeholders Statutory Responsibilities. It shall also engender the re-engineering of appropriate legislations; and the strategic roadmap for harnessing expert knowledge and country wide technical support for deterrence, codified response strategy and recovery architecture to Nigeria’s critical assets.
“Equally important is the desire to seek renewed commitment to the challenges impacting the integrity of critical infrastructures and assets in the Region, especially the vandalisation and destruction of its complex ecosystem of separate yet interconnected infrastructures in the Oil and Gas; Telecommunications, Transportation and Power Sectors.”
To achieve the projected outcome and also sustain confidence building”, he added, “diverse Stakeholders are mobilized to discuss the challenges impacting the integrity, operations and security of these critical infrastructures and Assets and also seek possible solutions and suggestions.
“The Stakeholders being mobilized to the Summit include but are not limited to: Nigeria’s National and State Legislatures; the Armed Forces, Security and Intelligence Agencies; Statutory Regulators in the diverse Sectors of Nigeria’s productive economy; Investors/Business Owners; Operators of the Infrastructures and Assets; Professional and Civil Society Organizations; the Traditional Institution, Socio Cultural and Pressure Groups, etc.
“By building inter/multi sectoral synergy, the Summit shall engender Stakeholders and citizens with shared responsibilities towards achieving the institutionalization of the road map and priorities of the policy frameworks crafted to provide deterrence, security and resilience of Nigeria’s assets.
“It is also the expectation of the Conveners that the derivatives from the Summit shall enhance knowledge leadership & management, regenerate confidence in securing Foreign Direct Investment into the country’s productive Sectors; and also boost capital growth and turnkey business startups and development.
“We trust therefore that as patriotic professionals of the fourth estate whose duties are often impacted by the aggravated assault on our collective psyches, you will see this as a call to duty and help disseminate the content of this press conference to a wide domestic and global audience”, Dr Chiakor told the journalists.