The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, has said the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) is advancing the whole of society approach towards addressing national security.
The CDS made this known on Wednesday in Abuja at a two-day youth and security summit themed, “Building Trust for an Improved Security Response in Nigeria,” organized by Abuja Global Shapers Community (AGSC) in collaboration with Defence Headquarters.
Gen Irabor, who was the Special Guest of honour at the event, said, for the AFN to sustain progress as part of the larger architecture addressing security challenges, the military is currently advancing the whole-of-society approach as a means of solving these challenges.
According to a statement by Defence spokesman, Air Commodore Wap Maigida, General Irabor believes that Nigerian youths are a segment of the population that could play a pivotal role in advancing the course of national security.
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The defence chief commended AGSC for organizing the summit which seeks to engage Nigerian youths on issues of national security as well as other intervention targeting the youths to be more focused on building the society.
The CDS described the collaborative venture between the AFN and AGSC as enlightening the participants in order to better understand the roles and responsibilities of the military in surmounting internal and external threats as well as protection of lives and property.
In his words, “engaging the youths is practically making them become part and parcel of the fabric of stability of the society towards enhancing national security.”
Gen Irabor further identified freedom from dangers and threats to the nation’s ability to defend and develop, promote its core values, and legitimate interests as well as enhanced wellbeing of its citizens as a component of national security.
The AGS Hub Curator, Mr Umar Addulmalik, in his welcome address, said the summit was a series of programmes being conducted by AGSC aimed at engaging the youths in security conversations through collaboration with security agencies.
According to him, AGSC is at the forefront of this security conversion and initiatives as a result of the evolving security challenges facing the nation.
The youth and security summit was attended by senior officers from the military, security agencies and paramilitary organizations. The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, was represented at the event.
