The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) revealed that critical infrastructure in Nigerian cutting across sectors including electricity, transportation, water, oil pipelines, telecommunications are increasingly under the threat of attacks by violent groups.
This was disclosed by Mr Benito Eze, an Assistant Commandant-General in charge of Critical National Asset and Infrastructure, in a meeting with newsmen on Friday, according to NAN.
What the NSCDC boss said
Eze said, “These threats can have devastating consequences and could threaten the national economy and entire communities.
“Oil pipelines used to be the most threatened sector but in recent times, we are having more threats in the transportation sector.
“There is no country that can be stable if its infrastructure elements are not of use, so they need to be protected for the smooth running of the government.
“Their collapse results in the collapse of the government. That is why we need to come together to ensure they are protected.”
The NSCDC boss announced the launch of a security summit in partnership with relevant stakeholders, titled, “Synergy: Panacea for effective Critical National Assets and Infrastructure Protection” from the 27th of September to the 29th of September.
He added the summit would introduce ways to safeguard infrastructure including “public buildings, schools, elections, transportation, production and manufacturing infrastructure, amongst others.
“The event will provide an opportunity for participants to review the current security situation in the country.
“They will also assess the level of risks to critical assets and infrastructure and evolve ways to actively promote synergy among all the stakeholders,” Eze said.
On the critical infrastructure sectors, the NSCDC stated that the election management system and school educational facilities – have been added to the initial 16 critical infrastructure sectors.
He said that two sectors – election management system and school educational facilities – have been added to the initial 16 critical infrastructure sectors.
The NSCDC chief listed chemical, commercial facilities, communication, critical manufacturing, and dams as part of the 16 critical infrastructure sectors.
Others are defence industrial base, emergency service, energy, financial services, food and agriculture and government facilities.
The rest are healthcare and public health, information technology, nuclear reactors, material and waste, transportation system, water and wastewater systems.
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