Inspector General of Police Usman Baba Alkali says unhealthy inter-agency rivalry among security forces like the army, the SSS, and the police, among other agencies, is damaging Nigeria’s internal security.

According to him, the trend had been of concern to a cross-section of Nigerians over the years but added that it was not peculiar to Nigeria alone.

He, however, admitted that inter-agency frictions constituted a major threat to internal security and national cohesion.

Mr Alkali added, “It accounts for budgetary wastage, duplication of functions, mutual suspicion, and encroachment on each other’s legal and operational space by competing agencies.”

The police chief stated this on Monday in Abuja at the opening of a retreat on ‘Strengthening Interagency Collaboration and Organisational Effectiveness for the Ministry of Police Affairs and Relates Agencies.’

Speaking during the event, the Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi, said the rate of violent crimes and secessionist agitations in parts of the country had attained unacceptable heights.

He noted that the violent crimes and agitations had snowballed into attacks on security formations and other symbols of authority in the country.

The minister explained that the need to emplace sustainable measures to tackle the security challenges threatening the peace, security, growth, and development in parts of the country reaffirmed the importance of the retreat.

Mr Dingyadi added that the increasingly sophisticated spate of violent crimes necessitated deploying available security assets, conflict resolution mechanisms, and other peace-building measures to enhance internal security arrangements in the country.

He expressed the belief that the retreat would give leverage to critique the functionality of the various departments and agencies of the police.

“The retreat will also bring to fore the state of our border security and implications of poorly policed borders on internal security.

“Attention will also be focused on pivotal policing departments, Intelligence, Operations, Research and Planning, ICT and other key segments of policing arrangements.

“This is to engender a rebirth of new security architecture to meet global best policing standard practices,” said the police affairs minister.

(NAN)