By Kemi Yesufu
The National Summit on the Protection of Nigeria’s critical infrastructure, monuments and business assets has been postponed to February 2022.
The new date is to allow all stakeholders prepare and fully participate in the gathering which has been described as timely and useful to the country especially at this point of its history.
Speaking on behalf of the Maj-Gen. Abdulmalik Jibrin (Retd)-led Think-Tank, Chiakor Alfred, Chief of Strategy, Ashcraft Centre for Social Science Research and secretary, planning committee, said owing to the fact that the Summit is about building multi-Stakeholder confidence, synergy and capabilities, majority of players in relevant sectors ought to be carried along.
He said: “After the Press conference on 18 November 2021, there has been a flurry of activities and intensification of engagement between the diverse Stakeholders, comprising members of Nigeria’s Defence, Security and Intelligence Agencies; the regulators of the diverse sectors in the Oil and Gas, Telecommunications, Education, Transportation, Power, Financial Institutions, operators of the Assets; Investors/Owners of the assets; and the Civil Society Organisations/Non-Governmental Organizations/ Pressure groups and other Special Interest Groups within the general spectrum of the Society. In the course of these robust engagements, we were, unfortunately, inundated with complaints by some of the Stakeholders that they were being left out.
“In the course of these engagements, we are amazed at the interests shown by all Stakeholders to the Summit. We also discovered unfortunately that several critical Stakeholders were not invited. Some lamented that the timing of the Summit was not convenient, considering that most of the corporate Organizations are winding down their operations for the year. The MDAs complained of defending their budgets at the National Assembly and would like to be given opportunity to participate. Even the lawmakers complained of the uncompromising schedules at this time”.
“Having aggregated these concerns, we saw the compelling need to postpone the Summit to a more convenient date. This will also give us the leverage to reach out to the other Stakeholders who were not invited, but whose participation and inputs are of utmost importance in enriching the proceedings and priorities of the Summit.
“Consequently, I wish to confirm to you that the National Summit is officially postponed. It will now hold on Monday, 28th February and Tuesday, 1st March, 2022 at the Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja”, Alfred added.
The National Summit, is being organized by the Presidential Think-Tank on Defence and Security and Ashcraft Centre for Social Science Research, Abuja with the aim of engenderingstakeholder synergy for real-time management solutions and systemized rapid response strategy; harness expert/operational knowledge and country wide technical support to enhance threat mitigation and desired security outcomes; and explore further capabilities in the fight against banditry, kidnapping and other emergency recoveries.
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