Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno has urged security agencies to continue to step up intelligence capability in containing security challenges facing the nation.

Mr Zulum made the call in Maiduguri on Monday while declaring open the 12th zonal conference of state directors of the State Security Service (SSS) in the North-East.

The governor said stepping and scaling up intelligence became necessary given the role of intelligence in containing complex security challenges.

Mr Zulum, represented by the Commissioner for Information and Internal Security, Usman Tar, also tasked security agencies on inter-agency collaboration and synergy for maximum results in their operations.

“You need to respect each other and work together to achieve the national objective of defence and security,” Mr Zulum said.

The governor, who assured of sustained support of his administration to security organisations in the state, urged them to continue to operate in line with rules of engagement.

The chairman of the meeting and the SSS director in Bauchi State, Hussaini Abdullahi, said the conference brought security directors within the zone to deliberate on security issues.

Mr Abdullahi said the directors would share experience on identified basic and contemporary security threats affecting the sub-region and adopt practical steps in addressing them.

“At the end of the conference, appropriate resolutions would be proffered to aid further course of action to the Service Commands and other relevant stakeholders, with a view to strengthening existing counter-measures,” Mr Abdullahi said.

Various speakers at the ceremony, including the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Umar Garbai, and heads of various security agencies in Borno, also stressed the need for inter-agency collaboration.

They also lauded the critical roles of SSS in providing actionable intelligence information to various security agencies.

(NAN)