NAF, Police, DSS Meet over Insecurity
As part of efforts to curb the growing menace of kidnapping and armed banditry in the North-west, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) will provide other security agencies with geo-spatial intelligence and real time imagery in order to halt the trend.
Kabuna-Abuja Highway and Zamfara State have come under the grip of bandits and kidnappers leaving a trail of blood and destruction.
Following this development, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar yesterday held a closed-door meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi at the NAF Headquarters in Abuja.
Details of the meeting, which were contained in a statement issued last night by NAF Headquarters, said the IGP and DG DSS on arrival at HQ NAF immediately went into a closed door meeting with the CAS before undertaking a guided tour of facilities at the newly established, state-of- the-art Geospatial Intelligence Data Centre (GIDC) and Strategic Air Operations Centre (SAOC).
The GIDC, which is equipped with high-tech computer hardware and software, was established to enhance the acquisition, analysis, interpretation and exploitation of imagery and geospatial information to provide actionable intelligence for the Armed Forces and other security agencies, while the equally well-equipped SAOC is expected to greatly enhance the coordination of air operations in support of internal security operations across the country.
While inspecting the facilities, the Acting IG expressed delight and satisfaction with the cutting-edge technologies and sophisticated computer software at the centres.
He said the essence of the visit to the CAS was to explore possibilities of using NAF air assets and the products of the GIDC to improve the effectiveness of operations to deal with issue of kidnapping and armed banditry, especially along the Kaduna-Abuja Highway and other parts of the country including Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Niger and Kogi States.
According to him, as a result of the onslaught by security agencies against the armed bandits in Zamfara State, the criminals had moved towards the Abuja axis to carry out their nefarious activities.