‎NATIONAL SECURITY: Gov. Diri Okays Use Of Kinetic, Non-Kinetic Approaches For Tackling Insecurity. ‎ ‎Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, on Monday, said the adoption of both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches in the fight against banditry, kidnapping, insurgency and other forms of criminality will help in tackling insecurity rocking the country. ‎ ‎Governor Diri stated this during a courtesy visit of participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 19, of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) in Government House, Yenagoa. ‎ ‎The Bayelsa Chief Executive, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr. Peter Akpe, emphasised the need for complementation, stressing that no military strategy, however sophisticated, can substitute for inclusive governance and equitable distribution of resources that will give the citizenry a sense of belonging. ‎ ‎He informed that his administration was sustaining the prevailing peace in Bayelsa mainly through non-kinetic measures, such as prioritisation of youth employment, skills acquisition scholarships and as well as opening up rural communities with roads and bridges to engender socio-economic development. ‎ ‎Describing the theme of the NISS study tour, “Ethnic Militias and Resource Competition in Africa: Implications for National Security”, as apt, Governor Diri said that Bayelsa and the Niger Delta are most suitable environments to conduct such research activity. ‎ ‎He recalled that the Niger Delta agitations in the past were necessitated by decades of criminal neglect and marginalisation its people suffered despite the region’s huge contributions to the commonwealth of the Nigerian state. ‎ ‎Stressing the need for equitable resource sharing, Senator Diri pointed out that when ethnic communities felt alienated from resources on their own soil, there is the likely tendency for the affected people to resort to armed violence. ‎ ‎He commended the Director General and the entire leadership of the NISS for ‎consistently investing in the intellectual and professional capital of the nation’s security and intelligence architecture, expressing optimism that the team would work hard to actualize its study objectives to promote national security. ‎ ‎His words: ” We welcome you and also appreciate you for choosing Bayelsa for this particular study tour. These studies are so important; but most of the time, because we don’t study, we don’t get empirical data or information on what is really going on. And so, we tend to theorize everything. ‎ ‎”We take this study very seriously. Therefore, we commend the Director General and the entire leadership of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), Abuja, for your consistent investment in the intellectual and professional capital of our national intelligence and security architecture. ‎ ‎ ‎”Distinguished participants, your chosen theme — “Ethnic Militias and Resource Competition in Africa: Implications for National Security’ — could scarcely have found a more appropriate field laboratory than Bayelsa State, and indeed, the wider Niger Delta. ‎ ‎”Bayelsa is the heart of the Niger Delta. Beneath our creeks, our mangroves and our communities lie the wealth that has powered the Nigerian economy for over six decades. Yet, for so long, our people lived with the painful paradox of plenty gas flares lighting the night sky over our communities without electricity, pipelines crossing farmlands that no longer yielded crops, and a generation of young men and women growing up to watch wealth pass them by. ‎ ‎”On the issue of national security, I believe that no military strategy, however sophisticated, can substitute for inclusive governance, equitable resource sharing, and a credible social contract between the state and its citizens. ‎ ‎And so, in Bayelsa, the Prosperity Administration of His Excellency, Senator Douye Diri, has continued to use more of the non-kinetic approach by prioritizing youth empowerment, skills acquisition, scholarships and the opening up of our communities through critical infrastructure. ‎ ‎”Because we understand that an idle, hopeless and excluded young person is the most fertile recruiting ground any militia, anywhere in the world, can ever hope for. I respectfully urgently urge you to look closely at what has worked here in the Niger Delta, what has not and why.” ‎ ‎Earlier in her opening remarks, the NISS team lead, Mrs. Vivian Okpeh, said the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 19 is a 10-month intensive training programme designed to equip participants with advanced skills in intelligence management, strategic leadership and national security policy formulation. ‎ ‎She further said that the study theme was carefully selected in recognition of the growing influence of militia groups, noting that their activities have profound implications for governance, economic stability and national development, which require a coordinated and well resourced response ‎ ‎While calling for greater collaboration between the NISS and Bayelsa, Mrs. Okpeh expressed readiness of the Institute to partner the state government in training the 2027 set of participants in the EIMC programme in Bayelsa. ‎ ‎