ABUJA – Security formations in the South West zone and Kwara say high level of inter-agency cooperation is contributing immensely to the successes being recorded in the fight against crime in the country.
The various agencies told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the partnership included intelligence sharing between their operatives.
The Police Command in Oyo said there was high level of inter-agency partnership that was helping to nip crime in the bud in the state.
This, it said, was often manifested in intelligence sharing and joint response to emergency situations.
The spokesman of the command, SP Adekunle Ajisebutu, said, “ security agencies in the state collaborate in many ways to nip crime or security infractions in the bud.
“We accept information from members of the public and such information is treated with utmost confidentiality.
“The vigilance groups also play important roles in maintenance of law and order in the state by complementing the police in prevention of crime and arrest of offenders,’’ Ajisebutu said.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the state also said that there was high level of cooperation among security agencies in the state.
The Spokesman of the Command, Mr Olusegun Adewole, said that the synergy among security agencies through information sharing and joint patrols had made crime an unattractive vocation in the state.
“The vigilance groups play their part, especially in Ibarapa and Oke Ogun area where they gather intelligence for security agencies.
“ The NSCDC patrols the state as a grassroots agency using overt and covert operations in the management of security across the state.
“ Community policing is also being implemented through registration of private guards to provide security in some establishments,’’ Adewole said.
In Osun, security agencies affirmed that there is a perfect working relationship among them to safeguard lives and property.
DSP Folashade Odoro, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, said the state was ranked as one of the safest in the country due to synergy between the security agencies in fighting crime in the state.
The NSCDC Spokesman in the state, Mr Afolabi Babawale, said the level of esprit de corps among security agencies in preventing crime in the state was very strong.
Babawale said that the working relationship between NSCDC, police and other stakeholders had led to breakthroughs in fighting crime in the state.
Similarly, the President of Osun Police Command Harmonised Vigilance Group, Ile- Ife chapter, Alhaji Yisa Akorede, said the group was working in collaboration with security agencies in the state to curtail crime.
Akorede said that the group was a grassroots security network committed to tackling armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism and other related crimes in the state.
“We share intelligence information with security agencies. We give security agencies first-hand information on crime in the state.
“Whenever we receive a distress call, we inform the police and after the arrest of the hoodlums, we ensure we hand them over to the police for necessary action,’’ he said.
In Ekiti, security agencies attribute the peace and low crime rate in the state in recent years to the good working relationship between them.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Abdulahi Chafe, told NAN that the depth of cooperation that had existed between his agency and others had continually given criminals sleepless nights.
He said an instance of the synergy was the collaboration between the police and prison officials in the state, with the police assisting to secure prisons in the state.
Chafe called for improved gathering and sharing of intelligence in order to further reinforce security in the state.
The Head of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Ekiti, Donatus Ikemefuna, also said the synergy among security agencies had played significant role in making the state peaceful.
Ikemefuna assured residents of the state of safety of their lives and property, especially now that the state governorship election was approaching.
The Ekiti Government, on its part, said the joint security outfit it set up, Operation Flush, was evident of its support for synergy among security agencies.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr Lanre Ogunsuyi, said the outfit had been successful in flushing out criminals and their collaborators from the state.
The Police Command in Kwara said crime rate in the state was relatively low, a development he linked to the cooperation among all stakeholders.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Lawan Ado, told NAN that apart from the usual societal challenges of petty stealing, breaking in and entering, communal skirmishes and negligible infractions between herders and farmers, the state had been peaceful.
He said the Command had good working relationship with other security agencies such as the Nigerian Army, Navy, Air Force, the Department of State Services (DSS), the NSCDC and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
“We share intelligence amongst the security agencies and also encourage members of the public to give us information which is held with utmost confidentiality,” he said.
The Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service in the state, Mr Adeshola Adeyemi, described the working relationship between security personnel in Kwara as “outstanding and perfect’’.
He said security personnel in the state were working as a team and family to ensure safety of lives and property.
“We are very sensitive to illegal immigrants because of the security challenges bedeviling the nation and the activities of terrorist groups,” Adeyemi said.
The Kwara Command of the NSCDC described the state as a peaceful, saying that the area had been home to many settlers due to the level of peace and harmony there.
Mr Henry Bilesanmi, the Public Relations Officer of the command, however, identified cultism, communal clashes and farmers/herdsmen clashes as the peculiar security challenges in the state.
Bilesanmi explained that the synergy between the corps and other security formations in the state had been very wonderful.
“Synergy between the corps and other formations has been very wonderful. We work like brothers. The relationship is very fantastic.
Mr Pedro Awili, the Ondo State NSCDC Commandant, also said that there was good working relationship between sister security agencies in the state.
According to him, there is a robust synergy between NSCDC and other security agencies in the state “as we work together and see ourselves as one.’’
“There is no rivalry among us in the discharge of our mandate. That is why the state is at peace. Whether you belong to the Police, NSCDC, DSS or Army, we all work together to achieve a common goal.
“If there is an emergency job meant to be done, we don’t look at division before we take charge of the situation and later hand it over to the security agency that has the mandate,” Awili said.
Similarly, Mr Femi Joseph, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, said all security agencies in the state worked in tandem “as there exists a kind of camaraderie among us which impact on the way we work.’’
Joseph also said that security had been made easy in the state because of existence of effective community policing.
He said that the police held regular meetings every three months with traditional rulers, artisans, transporters and eminent people in the state.
According to him, the police get useful information and suggestions from such meetings and this had gone a long way in putting in place effective community policing system.
The PPRO said that the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Olugbenga Adeyanju, had charged all Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in the state to work with union leaders in their respective areas of jurisdiction to ensure mutual relationship.
“We also engage neighbourhood security and vigilance groups in all local government areas. These people don’t carry firearms or weapons.
“What they do for us is to arrest suspects and hand them over to the DPO in their area. That is why we have been having peace in this state,” the spokesman said.
