Security agencies have reassured residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that the increased deployment of security personnel and barricades across parts of Abuja is a routine measure aimed at maintaining public safety, insisting there is no cause for alarm.
The clarification followed concerns from residents and motorists over the heightened security presence in the city centre, which has caused traffic congestion and delayed movement for commuters, civil servants and other workers in recent days.
Addressing journalists during a joint briefing by security and intelligence agencies on Thursday, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Anietie Iniedu, said the operation was a coordinated effort involving multiple security agencies and not a response to any immediate security threat.
“It is a joint operation. There is no cause for alarm at the moment,” Iniedu said.
He explained that security agencies stepped up deployments following an increase in protests within the nation’s capital, stressing that the objective was to preserve law and order.
“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 it 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 stated.
According to the police spokesperson, Abuja’s strategic importance as Nigeria’s seat of government makes it necessary for security agencies to maintain a visible presence to inspire public confidence and safeguard critical national assets.
“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.
Iniedu also said the Nigeria Police Force had broadened its policing strategy by strengthening partnerships with communities, noting that intelligence gathering alone was no longer sufficient to tackle evolving security challenges.
“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 were intensifying intelligence gathering and financial surveillance to disrupt 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 noted that while certain operational details could not be made public for security reasons, relevant agencies were working closely to strengthen the country’s security architecture.
Amako also urged journalists and media organisations to seek clarification from security institutions on security-related issues instead of relying on speculation, stressing that timely engagement would help prevent the spread of misinformation.
