Defence Minister Commissions State of the Art Operational and Welfare Projects at DIA; Hails CDI over Human Capacity Development Initiatives, Judicious Use of Resources.

A total of seven (7) state of the art impactful projects expected to boost morale and ensure modern intelligence operations in internal security operations in the country and beyond, built and upgraded by the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Air Vice Marshal Muhammed Sani Usman, were on Tuesday commissioned for the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).

The projects include the renovated and fully furnished DIC Students Hostels at the Defence Intelligence Training School in Karu, the renovated DIC Mosque and Church, the newly built Mabushi Quarters made up of 15 by 2 bedroom flats for Senior Non Commissioned officers (SNCOs) and the ultra-mordern DIA Fussion Center with state of the art technology for intelligence operations.

At the headquarters of the Defence Intelligence Agency, one of the project that was the cynosure of all eyes was the newly built Fire Service Station, complete with a Fire Truck and other modern equipment for deployment in the case of fire outbreak, considering the availability of high technology infrastructure at the agency.

Also inaugurated were several operational and welfare vehicles to enhance the welfare of personnel of the agency.

Defence Minister, Mansyr Muhammad Dan Ali who was on hand to commission the projects, disclosed that the coming on stream of the projects was very timely in view of the myraid of security challenges facing our dear country and the need for modern trends and capacity building.

“These projects, particularly the ‘Fusion Centre’ will no doubt enhance intelligence analysis and will enable the Agency to contribute meaningfully to achieving our national security objectives”.

While stating that the Buhari administration places emphasis on the wellbeing of its citizens, especially those of the security services who go the extra mile in ensuring the security of the populace and safety of the nations’ territorial integrity, the minister said, “Keeping this in mind, the government maintained its effort at capacity building of its security personnel and also providing needed conducive working and learning environment”.

The minister expressed total satisfaction with the state of the art infrastructure build by the Agency saying :I am particularly happy that resources meant for these projects were judiciously utilized.

Commending the Agency’s remarkable achievement and commitment towards human capacity development, Mansur Dan Ali said, “I wish to particularly thank the Chief of Defence Intelligence, considering that this is coming barely a year after commissioning several other projects at the DIC.

Earlier, the CDI, Air Vice Marshal Usman disclosed that the new and upgraded projects are a continuation of “Our Commitment to make the intelligence enterprise more effective, more resilient and more responsive to the needs of our dear country in these times of multiple complex national security challenges”.

His words, “From the outset, we have focussed our mission at the DIA on four cardinal pillars. First is the strenghtening of the institutional core through discipline, welfare, prudence, integrity and excellence in administration.

“Next is the enhancement of operational capabilities through the comprehensive adoption and utilization of technology while at the same time, building and sharpening our capacity to employ and deploy these tools and force multipliers.

“And lastly, is the provision and maintenance of infrastructure that allow uptimal performance of personnel as well as project positive optics of the agency, the armed forces and the country.

“All these are because we have determined that the challenges that we face today and those that we we will face tomorrow can only be solved by new unconventional thinking.

“This also explains why the ministry of defence mandated us to bring young nigerians to help solve these problems and chart a way to a more succesful future” the CDI said.

Present at the commissioning ceremonies were members of the National Assembly, with Senator Jeremiah Useni representing Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Defence, Hajia Batagarawa, former Chiefs of Defence Intelligence including Retired Vice Admiral Joseph Ajayi, Major General Halidu-Giwa, Major General SY Audu, and Air Vice Marshal Monday Morgan, among others.        

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