A call has been made by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) for the sensitisation of residents of the country’s border towns about security issues.
The call could not have come at a better time. When verifiable security challenges are bashing neighbouring countries and in some instances the leadership of such places proving helpless, we cannot afford not to be on our guard with effective antidotes such as this.
Success, in this direction, by the security agencies will go a long way in preparing us for any unforeseen eventuality. The cooperation of our border residents is a critical complement for ongoing National Security efforts in protecting our territorial integrity.
The National Security strategy document launched recently should be abridged for the understanding of such border residents. This will explain to them more about their place in the national security architecture.
A situation where residents along our frontiers neither comprehend nor appreciate the security challenges pertaining in neighbouring countries and the implications of these on the country, does not inure to our wellbeing.
While we welcome the involvement of the security agencies in creating this necessary awareness, we would be quick to add that the National Centre for Civic Education (NCCE) should be involved too. Indeed the NCCE should coordinate this national assignment.
Warding off insurgents from neighbouring countries such as restive Burkina Faso whose security forces are yet to prove they are up to the task of subduing the armed hoodlums, calls for the appreciation of the shared responsibility between border residents and the security agents operating on our frontiers.
Such cooperation can only be achieved when residents appreciate the danger posed by the insurgents and how they can target our country as they have others.
The security agents in charge of border operations especially the GIS should establish a cordial relationship with such residents. The confidence that will be built thereof between the two will encourage the residents to proffer important intelligence for the security personnel about for instance, movement of insurgents and other unwanted elements.
It is instructive to note that only a few border residents are in the know about insurgent activities in Burkina Faso and how weapons are sometimes smuggled into the country by bad characters from restive places across the border.
The dividend to be derived from cooperative border residents is enormous.
Such cooperation, coupled with the security awareness among border residents, will facilitate the work of our security forward operating bases and boost their readiness for any insurgent incursion into our territory.
A few days ago, the Bono Commander of the GIS called for an inter-security agency cooperation towards border security. That was another good call which when amalgamated with the foregone, will bestow upon us an appropriate bastion against any abuse of our territorial integrity by insurgents now active in our neighbouring Burkina Faso, which shares a border with Mali, another troubled land-locked country.