Security critical to growth, survival of Nigeria, says NIPR boss

The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) says security is critical to the growth and survival of the country.

The President of NIPR, Malam Mukhtar Sirajo, said this at the official presentation of the report of the Citizens Summit held in August 2022 tagged: “Rebooting Nigeria 2.0”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Citizens Summit was borne out of an objective assessment of the state of the nation, analysis of findings from credible sources on certain challenges confronting the country.

It was also borne out of a clear conviction that Nigerians at home and abroad were yearning for a platform that would offer them the opportunity to peacefully ventilate their concerns and contribute to the dialogue on nation building.

Sirajo stressed the need for effective and dynamic security by the new service chiefs to ensure economic stability.

“Our situational analysis revealed among other issues that all was not well with the state of affairs in the land.

“While there was loss of hope among the youth, the trust gap between the people and state institutions was widening fast; social tension mounted across the land, as violent aspirations and agitations threatened the foundation of our national existence.

“We are delighted now to note that President Bola Tinubu has begun the process of consensus building and reconciliation at a certain level.

“We commend the recognition and understanding of the Federal Government that this is a major area of priority and appreciate its efforts so far in that important direction.

“However, the NIPR strongly recommends that these engagements should be professionally coordinated and managed to ensure that the outcome meets the desired results.

“As perception and reputation managers, we clearly understand the dynamics that being a very sensitive matter, the process could possibly backfire, if the professional expertise required is not properly deployed,” he said.

Sirajo said the institute and its partners would make themselves available to work with the federal, state and local governments in managing the engagements to ensure credible and sustainable outcomes.

The Chairman, National Planning Committee for the Citizen’s Summit, Ike Neliaku, said for the country to succeed, there must be a collaborative action to drive positive thinking.

Read also: Subsidy removal: Regulate food prices to reduce sufferings, Aba residents tell govt

“It was, therefore, against this background and in furtherance of its mandate that the leadership of the institute felt that we could no longer continue to fold our arms and watch the situation deteriorate further.

“Then there was the need to widen the space for inclusion and participation in national conversation and foster mutual understanding among the various segments of the country,” Neliaku said.

Emmanuel Dandaura, a member of the NIPR Council who presented the report, said that all hands must be on deck to achieve the desired result.

Dandaura said that the search for solutions to national challenges should be done more by the majority of the citizens who feel the brunt, than the minority.

“Rather than have another talk shop for the elites, the summit availed the citizens at the lowest strata of the society unique opportunities to contribute toward finding solutions to some of the intractable developmental challenges confronting Nigeria.

“The aggregate of the opinions at the lower levels was received at the state chapter levels, then the six geo-political zones in Nigeria, including the Nigeria Diaspora population constituting the seventh.

“To my mind, the engaging title ‘Rebooting Nigeria’ derives from the understanding that governance is a system which is driven by a carefully designed programme akin to the computer system driven by an operating system.

“The operating system, being software, requires regular updates to cater for new challenges. More so, the computer system is susceptible to viruses which are often consciously designed and planted by malicious parties.

“Therefore, for that system to function optimally, there must be continuous threats and vulnerability mapping.

“Where viruses are detected, they must be promptly diagnosed and removed either by deleting the malicious programme or installing updates that will override the corrupted programmes,” he said.

Dandaura noted that the benefit of deleting a virus or installing an update in a system, can only take effect when the system has successfully been rebooted.

The summit report covered thematic areas such as youth, women, security, education, economy, industry, foreign investment, national reputation, inclusive governance and Nigeria in a globalised economy among other key national issues.