The traditional ruler of Ondo Kingdom, Oba Dr. Victor Adesimbo Kiladejo, Osemawe of Ondo Kingdom, said the insecurity in the kingdom was solved through creative intelligence gathering strategy.
The monarch stated this while addressing a delegation of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 16 from the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), who paid him a courtesy visit in his palace in Ondo.
According to Ondo monarch, the community employed short, medium and long term measures to bring peace into the ancient town and to tackle the insecurity, stressing the vital role of the NISS in the country.
According to the First Class Monarch, “as the apex agency in the training of members of the nation’s intelligence community at the highest level, it cannot be overemphasized that you have been doing so much to advance the cause of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“In the entire architecture of security, intelligence is globally privileged as the very foundation of effectiveness.
“This truth has been demonstrated over and over again in our country in the manner of the very professional intervention of the intelligence community in our security.
“What most people are not aware of is that a great deal of the relative tranquility that we have in our communities is attributable to the quiet engagement of the intelligence community with several issues.
“It is where gaps exist and security breaches happen that people see, not the countless numbers of what could ordinarily have created security embarrassments that did not happen because, through intelligence, such had been nipped in the bud.
“On this, I thank you most sincerely, on behalf of our community, for the job you are doing for our country. Here, in Ondo Kingdom, we can claim that we have a degree of peace that is worthy of celebrating.
“This has not always been so. Some years back, we actually felt the security situation was not just bad, but that it was indeed getting out of hand.
He stated further that “With my High Chiefs and other critical stakeholders, and involving all the formal and informal security agencies, we decided to intervene in a very creative but effective manner.
“This has thereby stanched the insecurity in the community, such that today, Ondo Kingdom is undoubtedly one of the most peaceful entities around.
“Here, individuals and families are safe to reside, raise families, and do business, without much fear. We give the glory to the Almighty God.
“I shall be willing to share with your team some of the steps we took in this regard, which actually we feel can be emulated by some other communities wracked by mindless violence across the country.”
On globalisation which is the focus of EIMC 16, Osemawe said the whole idea of the phenomenon was that no part of the world is any longer too remote today for anyone to visit, or link up with.
He said, “There is no development taking place in any corner of the world today that has no impact on the entire global system. Even in the diffusion of culture that we witness every day, the hands of globalisation are unmistakable.
“I should, therefore, feel that you have indeed chosen a very good topic for your research.
Here at Ondo Kingdom, and indeed the Palace of Òsemàwé, we have a long history of involvement with other parts of the world.
“To be sure, the monarchy here came into existence more than 500 years ago. We actually celebrated our 500th year in 2010, and formally made the proclamation of our transition to city status five years later, in 2015,”
In a presentation made to the technical team on behalf of the Osemawe, the Gbobaniyi of Ondo Kingdom, Professor Femi Mimiko, spoke to the pervasiveness of globalization, stressed the need for African countries to engage the phenomenon as a collective, preferably through the instrumentality of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Mimiko said doing so would deepen the continent’s relevance in the global political economy.
The EIMC team leader, Bartholomew Omoaka, commended the Osemawe and his High Chiefs for curbing insecurity in the town and also for warm and fruitful reception.
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