By CHARLES IWUOHA

Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has charged men of Nigeria Army to pay attention to intelligence gathering in order to nip issues of insecurity in the bud.

Governor Otti gave the charge on Friday, while receiving in audience a delegation of Course 47 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College of Nigeria, led by the Deputy Commandant and Director of Studies of the command, Rear Admiral Aniefok Uko.

He said that if intelligence is deployed properly, Nigeria security agencies would be able to nip in the bud criminality and insecurity.

"A lot of times, if you pay attention to intelligence, you will be able to nip in the bud majority of the cases before they happen.

"So, pay attention to intelligence. It's good that, that is what this course is about too.

"We have also held a strong view that security starts from intelligence. Thorough and well put together intelligence would always predict and sometimes put the forces in a state of readiness," Gov. Otti stated.

This was contained in a statement issued on Saturday by Otti's chief press secretary, Ukoha Njoku Ukoha and made available to journalists in Umuahia.

The Governor described as interesting, the fact that Nigeria has foreign students coming to train in the country and said that it is a mark of confidence adding that Nigeria has a disciplined and trained military.

He said that an example of discipline is how the military men in Abia have worked diligently with his government to eradicate crime and criminality in the State.

Governor Alex Otti, who congratulated the students and thank the leadership for finding Abia worthy for the study tour, assured of his commitment to working with the security agencies in sustaining peace in Abia State.

Speaking earlier, the Deputy Commandant and Director of Studies of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College of Nigeria, Rear Admiral Aniefok Uko said that students of Course 47 is in Abia as part of the senior course curriculum called environmental study tour of Nigeria army, with the theme "Harnessing Grassroots Intelligence for Enhanced Internal Security"

He said that the study tour would enable them to come to the field and consolidate on the theoretical teachings they've received in the college.

"So, the students are here in Abia State to look at Abia and the existing structures which can be galvanized, towards assisting the government and also the security agencies with veritable intelligence.

If there are practices here that we can adopt, we will adopt them as best practices and they will take it back to wherever they serve, all with a view to ensuring that national security is enhanced in Nigeria.

He thanked the Governor for accepting to host the Course 47 in the State and for the arrangements and logistics that have been put in place to make them comfortable in Abia State.

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