Insecurity: PMB, Monguno And The Hurdle Of Intelligence Gathering, By Gidado Ibrahim

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Security is first, the primary purpose of government, especially in a democratic state like Nigeria. This explains why President Muhammadu Buhari did not spare any effort at assembling a team of competent, loyal and dedicated allies, as he battles to lay to rest the recalcitrant issue of security breaches in parts of the country.

Intelligence gathering is to security management what oxygen is to man. That was why President Buhari zeroed in on the choice of Gen Muhammed Babagana Mongonu. Since he assumed duty at the intelligence services, collating, analysing, and disseminating information related to threats to national security has been made much easier than before.

He has been able to rally a wide variety of organisations such as military intelligence, police intelligence, foreign and domestic intelligence. Even agencies tasked with the investigations of terrorist financing and the prevention of money laundering at national and international levels has had their work enhanced because of the new life-line Gen Mongonu has brought to bare in the security sector.

For Gen Mongonu, no doubt, the role of intelligence gathering in a nation’s security architecture cannot be overemphasized. That’s where the dexterity of the Chief Spy Officer lays. As a man who have spent quality working years in intelligent community, organizing a viable security system for Nigeria is like a walk in the park.

Worried by upscale banditry attacks in Katsina State, the NSA led the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Muhammed Adamu; the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Yusuf Magaji Bichi and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, on a visit to the state. During the visit, Gen Mongonu had harped on the need to build and restore the confidence of the local community. The team also had interface with Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Bello Masari, who assured of maximum cooperation with the security architecture of the country.

For instance, in the Northeast, with the subsidiary Operation Long Reach, the Nigerian military has continued to demobilise Boko Haram’s tactical command centre, killing many of their fighters in Borno State, especially around the Sambisa Forest. As attested to by the military command through its coordinator of Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, the operation carried by the Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation LAFIYA DOLE was carried out after a series of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions observed significant presence of Boko Haram members.

The successes recorded in the military operations can be credited to the dramatic shift in the intelligence priorities and requirements, since the appointment of Gen Mongonu. Cumulatively, this has reflected in improved security atmosphere in the country.

With the formidable resume of Gen Mongonu in security management, the president is now delivering on his campaign promise of restoring peace in the North-East and other parts of the country. This has also led Nigeria to contributing significantly to the peace and social order of the African Continent having almost defeated the terrorist groups and all territorial extensions returned to the sovereignty of the nation.

We must be objective. It is unarguable that the security situation of today is far better than in 2014 when lives all around Nigeria was becoming poor, nasty, brutish and short. We can’t forget in a hurry that 17 LGAs in Borno alone were under the firm control and government of Boko Haram with the their flag visibly hoisted.

Monguno, as the National Security Adviser from 2015 to date, acted in his best capacity, recovering the local governments controlled by the Boko Haram Terrorist group, and ensuring that Nigerians put the nightmare of the Boko Haram behind them.

This is the peak of professional competence and it could be said of the National Security Adviser, Babagana Mugono to be the best choice of President Muhammadu Buhari for courageously at doing his work.

Each administration has always set the guidelines for intelligence activities and, within these guidelines, establish in a timely fashion specific requirements and priorities for the conduct of those activities.

For instance, President Buhari in August last year directed that there should be improved synergy between the armed forces and other security agencies in the country to aid intelligence sharing and gathering. This followed a report from SBM Intelligence that the proliferation of small arms and ammunitions is driving the increasing rate of violence in Nigeria.

To achieve this, the president, based on the recommendation of the NSA, approved the establishment of a national centre for the control of small arms and light weapons. The centre is domiciled under the office of the NSA and efforts are on to give it a legal backing.

The centre is similar to the counter terrorism centre and the cybersecurity centre, both of which are under the NSA’s office. According to Monguno, the centre is to “work in compliance with already laid down international standards and ECOWAS moratorium on the control of small arms and light weapons.”

He noted that the centre controls the inflow of these weapons, while also working on mopping up and disposing of those already in use. “This centre on control of arms will provide the strategic framework for containing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons especially those coming from across our borders especially within the West Africa sub-region and through the maritime environment,” Monguno added.

As a deft intelligence officer, Gen Mongonu remains an indispensable expert in intelligence collection, compilation and analysis, which has impacted positively on the fight against insurgency.

Instead of the hitherto Bravado approach to intelligence gathering, Gen Mongonu has relied heavily on the most important aspects of spying, which is collecting relevant information.

Throughout his work work life, Gen Mongonu has developed the quality of paying close attention to details and has been able to compile and retain meaningful and relevant data. Intelligence agencies look for a strong record in academics to determine your observational skills.

As Nigeria’s number one spy master, Gen Mongonu is naturally adaptable and has high functioning ability to interact with others. Social interaction as a spy will take many different forms, requiring you to be comfortable associating with the entire spectrum of personality types.

– Ibrahim is director, Communications and Strategic Planning, of the Presidential Support Committee (PSC).

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