Addressing insecurity requires whole-of-society approach

Addressing the volatile, uncertain and ambiguous nature of security challenges globally, requires whole-of-society approach.
The declaration was made in Abuja on Tuesday by the Commandant, National Defence College (NDC), Rear Adm. Murtala Bashir.
He was addressing the opening of a Strategic Analysis Course organised by the NDC for participants of Course 31 and others from defence and services headquarters and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
He recalled that there were crises, insurgencies, terrorism and conflicts globally such as between Russia and Ukraine and in Sudan and the Middle East.
“The world is becoming more volatile, uncertain and it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict the outcomes of the crises.
“The world is becoming more complex and it is difficult to understand the nature of some of these conflicts. Non-state actors are now challenging the authorities of sovereign nations.
“The battle line is becoming undefined. Belligerents are becoming undefined and non-governmental organisations are fuelling some of these crises.
“We have to examine how we can further build our capacity to understand these issues; to critically analyse them so that we can comprehensively address them and also predict future developments,’’ he said.
The commandant explained that the objective of the course was to enable participants to identify, define, and analyse issues to be able to predict future developments and proffer desired solutions.
Bashir said the NDC believed in the whole-of-society approach to addressing national security and developmental challenges hence the need to build capacity of participants.
“We have to invite participants from services headquarters, ministries, departments and agencies so that we can have a comprehensive approach to addressing our challenges.
“The military cannot address challenges alone. It has to adopt the whole-of-nation approach, for instance to tackle insurgency and terrorism,’’ he said.
(NAN)