Nigeria has been described as the only country where infrastructure has no “protection plan”. Benito Eze, the acting deputy commandant-general of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in charge of the Critical National Assets and Infrastructure Directorate, stated this on Thursday.

However, his boss, Ahmed Audi, the NSCDC commandant-general, commended Mr Eze for documenting the corps’ experience in protecting critical infrastructure.

Mr Audi gave the commendation on Thursday in Abuja, at the presentation of Mr Eze’s book, ‘Critical Infrastructure Protection in Nigeria: The NSCDC CNAI Experience’. The event marked Mr Eze’s disengagement from service.

Mr Audi described Mr Eze as an asset to the nation, saying the book documented his contributions and experience in the CNAI directorate. He said the book would serve as a useful guide to the NSCDC in strengthening its effectiveness and efficiency in protecting critical national assets and infrastructure.

Mr Eze said that his motivation for writing the book came from the gaps he identified in Nigeria’s approach to infrastructure protection. He said his operational experience revealed that infrastructure projects were often established without adequate protection plans.

“I noticed that Nigeria is the only country where infrastructures are established by the owners without any protection plan,” he said.

Mr Eze added that his study examined the NSCDC’s statutory role in critical infrastructure protection and advocated stronger inter-agency collaboration. According to him, infrastructure protection has moved from a fragmented system to greater collaboration, cooperation and coordination among relevant agencies.

He recommended stronger government directives to ensure effective implementation of the national policy on critical national assets and infrastructure protection.

(NAN)