•Akanji and Tinubu
The Nigerian Baptist Convention, Rev. Israel Akanji has urged President Bola Tinubu to urgently convene a national conference on security with all former Presidents and Heads of State to produce a new blueprint for security operations.
Akanji made this call at a press conference o
today heralding the 112th Annual Session of the Nigerian Baptist Convention and the 175th Dodransbicentennial anniversary of the Baptist Mission work in Nigeria, reports Vanguard.
The event, which would commence tomorrow, April 26 at the Baptist International Convention Centre along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, will be hosted by the Providence, Ethiope and Anioma Delta Baptist Conferences.
Akanji said the national conference on security should also involve former and present security chiefs such as the Minister of Defence, Service Chiefs, Inspector General of Police, Director General of the Department of State Security and heads of Defence Intelligence Agency and National Intelligence Agency, among others.
He lamented the seemingly endless unprovoked killings, genocide, kidnapping, terror and banditry attacks in the country, noting that crime keeps rising despite efforts to end insecurity.
According to Akanji, the country is experiencing the consequences of the compromised security architecture inherited by the present administration.
“It is therefore imperative for President Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency, convene a National Conference on the Security with all former Presidents and Heads of State, with all our serving and former security chiefs such as the Ministers of Defence, Service Chiefs, Inspector Generals of Police, Director Generals of the Department of State Security, heads of Defence Intelligence Agency, and National Intelligence Agency, among others, who will produce a new blueprint for our security operations.
“The situation where we are doing mass burials as we are witnessing in Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Bassa in the Plateau, Benue and other states of the country is totally unacceptable and reprehensible.
“Similar cases have continued to occur in Katsina, Zamfara, Borno and in other states of the country.
“Our judicial system and the Police too should also rise up to the challenges through accelerated prosecution of those responsible for insecurity.
“This is not the time to pay lip service to the inadequate security situation of our country or continue to allow impunity to fester.
“Let me use this opportunity to reiterate our position as a denomination for the State Police. The present Policing system appears insufficient to curb the menace of insecurity in the country,” he said.
However, Akanji commended President Tinubu for all he is doing to cushion the severity of the economic hardship and urged him to continue to intensify action to put in place economic policies with a human face and to get things fixed on time.
“While we are seeing some improvement in the area of foreign investors, we still appeal for more efforts to boost the investment further,” he said.
