Directors of Military Intelligence in the Lake Chad should device strategies that would improve intelligence towards enhancing security in the region.

This is because such strategies were required to restore livelihood of millions of people, foster regional integration and development, as well as finding enduring solution to the Lake Chad Basin crisis.

Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali threw the challenge in Abuja, when he declared open a two-day conference of directors of defence intelligence in the region, organised by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in conjunction with the United States African Command, AFRICOM.

Dan-Ali urged the directors and AFRICOM to re-launch their partnership and commitment towards restoring peace in the region, saying evidently, the role of intelligence in restoring peace in the Lake Chad region cannot be over emphasised.

He said ensuring security for meaningful development could not be achieved by one country; hence there was the need for exchange of information, intelligence and close cooperation between affected countries, sub-region and regional organisations.

Dan-Ali, who spoke through Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin said he was optimistic that with the pedigree and competence of military officers present here today and international partners, the programme of this conference will suggest practical ways to tackling the dynamics of insecurity in the region.

He believed that a cooperative approach will make enduring and positive change in security and peace possible in the Lake Chad region to enhance meaningful development, saying in the past, there was “uncontestable’’ lapses in security architecture of the Lake Chad Basin countries which “contributed to hindering the countries’ security apparatus and their international partners.’’

According to him, this should not serve as a discouragement but a motivation for invigorating steps towards bridging the gaps, saying he hoped that the conference would serve as a bench mark and the bedrock upon which future security cooperation and intelligence activities in restoring peace in the Lake Chad Basin region will be built.

Earlier, Chief of Defence Intelligence, Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Sani said terrorism based on ideologies espoused by terrorist organisations, individuals and groups remain threat to international peace, security and development.

Sani said such ideologies and groups should neither be accepted nor condoned in the region, saying this was because while the rest of the world progresses, they were being held back mostly by the forces of darkness and backwardness the world has ever witnessed.

He urged the directors to be committed and ensure that the region’s intelligence system work, saying the conference shall therefore, proffer the best ideas to build sustainable and dependable partnership mechanism for better understanding of evolving dynamics and dimensions of the threats faced, as well as sharing essential intelligence to counter the threats.

US Deputy Chief of Mission, Daniel Young underscored the importance of intelligence in dealing with threats, as well as in counter terrorism operations.