Commandant of the Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Remilekun Ekundayo, said yesterday that the command had arrested over 50 vandals of Critical National Assets and Infrastructure (CNAI) between October 2024 and September 2025 in the state.
Ekundayo disclosed this at a One-Day Stakeholders Meeting, directed by the Commandant General, Prof. Ahmed Audi, with the theme: “Protecting Critical National Assets and Infrastructure (CNAI) through Effective Cooperation, Collaboration and Coordination,” held at the Command’s Headquarters, Owu-Dekudu, Kobape, Abeokuta.
She said that the arrests were majorly from electricity cables, power lines, telecommunication cables, industrial cables, transformers, streetlights, railway lines, forests, industrial complexes, and manufacturing hubs, among others, calling on stakeholders and community members to collaborate with the command to tackle vandalism on national assets.
The Commandant urged individuals, organisations, and other sister agencies, including the Nigerian Police, Army, Vigilante Groups, Immigration, Customs, Amotekun, and Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), to mention a few, to work with the Command in whistle-blowing and securing the arrest of vandals of national infrastructure.
Ekundayo said, “Greetings to my Commandant General, Prof. Ahmed Audi, who sent to us a message through the office of the National Security Adviser for this programme to be held today, talking about protecting critical national assets and infrastructure of government, and we have arrested about fifty-something since my inception in office.
“The key national assets are the railways, telecommunication, electricity, transformers, airport, streetlights, and forests, because a lot of things are going on there, as some of our assets are located there.
“These critical national assets and infrastructure belong to all of us, and in one way or the other we need to put our hands together to bring up the stakeholders to jointly protect these infrastructures. Most of these infrastructures are in the bush and the community, and the people who are in the community are our CDAs, traditional rulers, and our youths.
“So we need to bring everybody together, especially our security agencies, who are saddled with the responsibilities to enforce law and order as regards vandals, and things will go wrong in the country if these assets are not protected.
“Everybody should be concerned. You don’t see a transformer behind your house, and it is not your business. Once they tamper with it, you will not have power. It is not the people who tamper with it that will suffer from it, but you in that community. Everybody’s hands must be on deck for intelligence sharing so that we nip it in the bud when necessary in the protection of these critical national assets.”
Earlier, the Special Adviser to Ogun State Governor on Security Matters, Olusola Subair, who was represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Inter-ethnic and Religious Matters, Mr Hadi Sani, insisted that it was high time all hands were on deck to ensure the security of national assets in the state and the entire country.
“This is a security affair that requires joint intervention. We used to know it as a kinetic approach for security agencies to deploy their resources in protecting lives and properties, but the current situation in the world is no longer sustainable.
“We have to bring the engagement of security agencies, stakeholders, and all members of the community together, as it is not a matter of government affairs alone. Even though the government will contribute its quota in providing logistics and facilities, the number of our security agencies can no longer secure the entire society,” he added.
