Bello charges NISS course participants for dev’t of home grown solutions
By Abba – Eku Onyeka, Abuja
Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Teritory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has charged members of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 14 of the National Institute of Security Studies (NISS) to develop homegrown solutions to Nigerian and African challenges.
In a press release from the Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Anthony Ogunkeye yesterday, the Minister made this charge during a courtesy call by the course participants to the FCT Administration (FCTA) last week. In his address to his guests who are senior officials drawn from various government Ministries Departments and Agencies and 3 countries from the West African sub-region, the Minister said that there was the need to identify solutions that were home grown and best suited to meet the peculiar challenges of Nigeria and African countries.
He said: “It is very important to appreciate that solutions to our challenges are within us. So, we have to identify solutions that are home-grown, that are adapted to our own peculiar environment in Nigeria, West Africa and the African Continent. These possible solutions include the promotion of democracy and democratic values, the fight against corruption and the supremacy of the constitution and rule of law.
“I think these are very fundamental. If we don’t hold on to them, it becomes very difficult for us to surmount our challenges. These are the core values that the Administration of President Muhammad Buhari is entrenching in Nigeria.”
While calling for unity amongst all Nigerians as a way of surmounting national challenges, the Minister said: “The FCT and Abuja in particular as the capital of Nigeria is also the symbol of our unity and rallying point for all our very diverse peoples and cultures. We have realized long ago that the greatest strength of our country is her people and as long as the people are united, no challenge is insurmountable.
The Minister called on the course participants to work hard at blending with the local communities where they are serving so as to get the necessary intelligence needed to succeed in their duties.
In her remarks, the Honorable Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu said that the theme for the course which is “Governance, Security and sustainable development in Africa: Nexus, Challenges and Prospects” was not only apt but also an affirmation of the mission for which the Institute was estestablished.She also expressed hope that the course participants will contribute uniquely towards generating ideas that will secure the country and called on them to promote inter-service, intra-agency and international cooperation amongst security agencies.
In his address the Commandant of the Institute Mr Ayodele Adeleke said that it was envisaged that the outcome of the 10-month programme will serve as a veritable tool to policy makers, security agencies and all relevant institutions in confronting the ever dynamic security threat within Nigeria and the African continent. He also called on African countries to network and partner with each other for peace and sustainable development.
In another development, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello has charged the Abuja Environmental Protection Board and other relevant agencies of the FCT Administration to ensure that the Umaru Musa Yar’adua Way on Airport road is kept clean at all times.
The Minister gave the charge over the weekend when he led a team of heads of relevant agencies to inspect and assess the level of sanitation on the road. He said that “the visit with relevant agencies was to enable me see progress on the instruction that pedestrian bridges are not to be used as markets and trading points.”
At the end of the inspection, the Minister expressed satisfaction with the efforts made to rid the road corridor and the pedestrian bridges of environmental nuisances.
Meanwhile, in line with the Minister’s directive, the Abuja Environmental Protection Board ( AEPB) has instructed its personnel handling the road corridor to redouble their efforts in cleaning all the drainages as well as vegetation control.The AEPB assured that the cleaning of all the pedestrian bridges and interchanges as well as removal of waste in villages along the airport road would be sustained.The Minister’s assessment tour took him through the entire length of the airport road where he physically inspected the pedestrian bridges.
On the Minister’s entourage were the Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Mr Olusade Adesola, Executive Secretary of the FCDA, Engr Umar Gambo Jibrin, the AEPB Director Dr Hassan Abubakar, Director Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Mrs Zaliha’u Ahmed Urban and officials of the FRSC, the Nigeria Police and NSCDC.
