Why Security Agencies Deployed Heavy Presence Across Abuja

Security agencies have explained the reason for the increased deployment of personnel and the installation of barricades in parts of Abuja, assuring residents that the measures are precautionary and aimed at maintaining public order amid a rise in protests across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The heightened security presence, which has seen barricades erected at key locations within the city centre in recent days, has resulted in traffic congestion and delays for motorists, civil servants and other commuters travelling to and from work.

Addressing public concerns during a joint media briefing involving security and intelligence agencies on Thursday, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Anietie Iniedu, said there was no immediate security threat that should cause panic.

“It is a joint operation. There is no cause for alarm at the moment,” Iniedu said.

He explained that security agencies had recorded an increase in protests around the city centre and had consequently reinforced security deployments to preserve peace and ensure public safety.

“We’ve noticed that there has been an upsurge of protests in the city centre, and we’re trying to maintain law and order as is our basic and primary responsibility. The deployments are basically deployments with movement from one location to the other to ensure that our city centre is safe,” he said.

Iniedu noted that maintaining a strong security presence is particularly important because Abuja is Nigeria’s seat of government and home to diplomatic missions, key government institutions and foreign investors.

“Remember, we’re in the capital, and there’s a lot that has to be done to ensure confidence in those in the city centre and also for our foreign investors,” he added.

The police spokesperson also disclosed that the Nigeria Police Force has expanded its security strategy beyond intelligence-led policing to what he described as “intelligence-led community collaborative policing.”

According to him, the new approach recognises that intelligence gathering alone is no longer sufficient to address evolving security challenges and therefore prioritises stronger collaboration with local communities.

“We’ve seen that intelligence alone won’t help us. We have gone far to create collaborative processes with our communities,” he said.

Also speaking at the briefing, Kingsley Amako of the National Coordination Office of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) said security agencies had strengthened intelligence gathering and financial surveillance efforts to curb terrorism financing and other emerging threats.

“We have very robust intelligence-gathering mechanisms. As they are evolving into new tricks and changing their tactics, we are also evolving with them,” Amako said.

He added that while certain security operations could not be discussed publicly for strategic reasons, agencies were working closely together to tackle evolving security threats and encouraged the media to seek clarification from relevant security institutions whenever necessary.