Irabor: Early Warning Systems Centre to Boost Nation’s Security

Rebecca Ejifoma

The Chief of the Defence Staff, General Leo Irabor, yesterday said that the newly inaugurated  Gen. Leo Irabor Early Warning Systems Centre (GLIEWSC) would help to proffer solutions to the security challenges in the country.

Irabor made this remark at the commissioning of the GLIEWSC at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos State.

Irabor said: “The centre will help to expand on research, give early warning, and proffer possible solutions to problems being forecast. 

“I congratulate the director general and the entire management of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.”

Speaking also, the chairman of the occasion, Mr. Julius Adelusi, described Nigeria as fortunate to have this facility.

“This centre will take Nigeria into the international loop system. We would have information; we would improve our security; and we would be able to manage the problem of security issues in the country,” Adelusi said.

The Presidential Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, who noted that the world is a volatile place, said that Nigeria is a safe home.

Adebayo said: “You could see the events in Sudan and Ukraine and how many Nigerians say ‘bring us home’. So, it’s important that the home is safe. And the early warning system is one of the ways to keep the homeland safe.

“Home for us is Nigeria, West Africa and Africa. The capacity that Nigeria has to make all these things work is what we are trying to do today, putting institutions and persons in place.”

On his part, the Director of the African Union Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Maxy Ogbede, expressed confident that the early warning systems centre would help Nigeria to nip security challenges in the bud.

Ogbede said: “As they say, prevention is better than cure. When we get the early warning signals of conflicts arising, it helps us to plan. When you plan, you do better. For Africa as a continent, this is a global centre we need to align with.” 

According to him, there is a need for intelligence sharing among the components of Africa. “The phenomenon of insecurity today is global; it is not limited to Nigeria. There are boundary challenges.

“We need these early warning signals. They serve to help us mitigate crises and carry out crisis management.”

The Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Profesor Eghosa Osaghae, admitted that peace and security issues are integral to their work.

Osaghe said: “As a responsible think tank, we have devised together with General Leo Irabor this centre to add to our security architecture as a country to see how we can embolden it, strengthen it and not simply rely on what people say to us, but develop our capacities for identifying potential areas of threats and danger, and going ahead with the diagnostic to see how we can respond to address them, manage them, mitigate them and bring them to an end.”