In a meeting held on Monday, President Bola Tinubu instructed the new service chiefs, the National Security Adviser (NSA), and the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) to work cohesively as a team and successfully accomplish their assigned tasks.
The NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, expressed his commitment to the President and Nigerians, assuring them that the security agencies will fulfill their mandate of ensuring national security, as well as establishing and maintaining peace and stability.
President Tinubu convened a closed-door meeting on Monday with the NSA, the Service Chiefs, and the acting IGP at the Presidential Villa in Abuja for his maiden interaction with them.
Mallam Ribadu, the NSA, provided a briefing to journalists after the meeting, noting that the President had specifically instructed them to work as a team and deliver on their mandate.
Read also: IGP Egbetokun Vows To Make Community Policing Work
In regard to the meeting’s outcome, he said, ‘We’re here to thank Mr. President for the opportunity he gave us to serve our country and to serve his own government. We also pledged our loyalty to him, Nigeria and Nigerians.’
‘We believe the choice he made is the right one, the correct one, and we know what he wants for this country.’
‘We’re going to work tirelessly to ensure that we accomplish that objective of securing our country, establishing peace, stability and let’s get our lives back.’
‘He gave us the assurance that he’s with us hundred percent. He told us that we must work as a team and that there’s work to be done; he’ll expect us to deliver and we’re grateful for the opportunity. That’s why we are here.’
Asked about the initial focus of the newly appointed security heads, Mallam responded, ‘Where we are today and you can see already things are improving in our country.’
‘If you see the record of crimes and activities of criminals are going down, it will continue to go down. We’ll secure this place.’
‘Nigerians have seen the quality of the people that are given opportunity, they are probably some of the best we have and they are not going to fail you, they’ll certainly deliver.’
Alongside the NSA, Mallam Ribadu, other attendees at the meeting were the Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Christopher Musa; the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja; the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Hassan Abubakar; and the Acting IGP, Kayode Egbetokun.