Tunji-Ojo charges paramilitary service chiefs on reforms

The new Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has expressed the determination of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to properly secure Nigeria, noting that internal security remains top on his agenda.

He has accordingly directed the security agencies in Nigeria to work in synergy to secure the nation’s land, air, and sea borders.

Tunji-Ojo, who officially assumed office on Monday, unfolded his agenda while briefing newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja, disclosing that the Interior Ministry is a fulcrum of the nation’s security and development; hence, he could not afford to disappoint President Tinubu given the key role of the ministry in actualizing the renewed hope of the administration.

He noted that there could be no meaningful development when peace and security are restored in the country, urging them to close ranks to ensure that Nigerians could go to sleep with their two eyes closed.

Tunji-Ojo further told the Nigeria Immigration Service that border security must be compromised, noting that border security and reform of the paramilitary services for optimum service delivery are uppermost on his agenda aimed at ensuring that peace is returned to the country for enhanced national development.

He charged the service chiefs on maximum performance, saying average performance is not good enough and would not be condoned

“The President has given a marching order that it will not be business as usual, and if anything happens in your agency, I will hold you responsible,” he said.

He urged the service chiefs to go back and restrategize on how to transform the individual agencies in line with the aspirations of Nigerians and President Tinunu’s renewed agenda.

He said, “Mr President is determined to secure the lives of Nigerians and make Nigerians prosper.

For you to prosper automatically, there must be peace. A nation can’t prosper when peace is not there”.

He added that President Tinubu is desirous of introducing key reforms in the paramilitary services in line with his renewed hope agenda.

He lamented the rigour and painful circumstances Nigerians go through to obtain passports from the Nigeria Immigration Service office both in Nigeria and overseas, saying this must be stopped.

He maintained that the system has to be sanitised, insisting that Nigerians do not need to wait aimlessly for what is theirs.

The Minister noted that the Ministry of Interior has key responsibility when it comes to national issues because of its strategic position as the ministry in charge of internal security, saying the Ministry has the mandate of providing security for lives and property in the country.

It was disclosed that the Ministry would collaborate with the Immigration Service to unpack some of the bottlenecks hampering effective service delivery.

“We have to secure our borders, whether land, sea, or air. We need to deploy technology to adequately secure the borders”.

On the Federal Fire Service, the Minister charged the Controller-General to look into the response time to a fire disaster, saying this should be between 15 and 20 minutes.

He said he was aware of the challenges being faced by the service, noting, however, that fire disasters involve lives and property that must be saved, hence the need to be more creative and deploy technology to speed up the processes.

On the Correctional Service, the Minister pledged to work with the service in the area of improving the condition of inmates being held in the custodial centres while also urging the service to work in synergy with relevant stakeholders to decongest the prisons.

He said the essence of locking people in custody centres was to make them better people, and as such, the Correctional Service should do more in the area of training and rehabilitation of the inmates.

He also charged the Controller-General of Correctional Service to ensure that custodial centres across the country are adequately secured to forestall incidents of jailbreak.

He commended the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps for doing “fantastically well”, even though more needs to be done to secure national assets.

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