Nigerians and the international community must join hands with President Muhammadu Buhari’s federal government to defeat terrorism in the country.

They were charged to continue to support the efforts of the Federal Government towards bringing under total control the incidences of insecurity and terrorism in the nation and the West African sub-region.

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State said this at the opening ceremony of the National Sensitisation Workshop on the mplementation of the National Counter Terrorism Strategy,NACTEST, held in Ikeja, Lagos.

Ambode said all hands must be on deck and all stakeholders must be on the same page and be ready to contribute their fair share in the deal to ensure a safe and prosperous Nigeria for all and sundry, emphasising the need for a strong synergy and collaboration among security agencies in the war against terrorism and insecurity.

He stressed that all security apparatuses must be united and determined in the knowledge that government was committed to providing all the support needed to guarantee victory, saying this was imperative and compelling in order to sustain the current successes that had been achieved in the fight against terrorism.

According to Ambode, Lagos State would continue to extend necessary logistic support to security agencies in the state, describing the workshop as demonstration of the fact that the fight against terrorism must be all inclusive.

The governor, who spoke through Secretary to the State Government, Tunji Bello, said
while the Federal Government was expected to provide leadership, other levels of government and non-governmental and community based organisations must be carried along to play a collaborative role identified areas of responsibility.

Speaking, the National Security Adviser, NSA, Major General Babagana Monguro said the NACTEST was a holistic document that spelt out the roles every Ministry, Department and Agency (MDA), civil society groups and others, saying there was no agency that could work alone to ensure security of life and property in the country.

Monguro said the reason why the workshop was held in Lagos was to put the structure in place, saying most time, local government chairmen don’t know that they were the chief security officer for their local government.

The NSA who spoke through Head of Counter Terrorism, Steve Agbana said this was a wake-up call that they all need to work with the security agencies within their councils and in their state and federal, saying this would ensure at all tiers of government, efforts were done to ensure security within the country.

The 2-day workshop has in attendance top security officers at all levels, including from the Office of the National Security Adviser, Local Government Sole Administrators and members of the civil society groups.