- Safiu Kehinde
The Department of States Service’s (DSS) Director-General, Oluwatosin Ajayi, has harped on the need for communities to possess weapons to protect themselves in fight against insecurity.
Ajayi made the call while speaking at the inaugural annual lecture of the National Association of the Institute for Security Studies (AANISS) on Thursday in Abuja.
The DSS boss stressed the importance of permitting a certain degree of armament within communities.
He noted that the security agencies cannot protect every Nigerians as they have to deal with bigger organized crimes.
Enabling communities to possess weapons, according to him, will empower them to serve as the primary line of defense in addressing issues of insecurity.
“You do not expect the Nigerian army, police, DSS, to protect every Nigerian. It is not going to work.
“How can you create the first line of defence? The military, police, and other security agencies have to deal with the bigger ones, like organised crime.
“It is unimaginable that any security agencies have the resources to deploy to every community.
“What we have to start experimenting with is how we can make the community be a fist in the first line of defense.
“We have to allow some level of armament for the communities and they can serve as the first line of defense.” the DSS boss said.