L-R, Dambazau, second left, take his oath of office

After several postponements, the new Minister of Interior, Lt Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd) finally showed up today at the Ministry of Interior.

He was expected yesterday, but called it off and also was expected this morning, but again he called off the meeting.

Finally, he showed up in the afternoon Thursday, with  promises to embark on immediate reform of the nation’s internal security architecture in line with international best practice.

He made the promise on Thursday in Abuja at his inaugural meeting with Directors and Service Chiefs of the Ministry of Interior.

“Today marks the beginning of a new dawn in the Ministry of Interior; it’s a fact that the idea of security has moved away from the traditional approach to one that is people oriented human security approach,” he said.

He said that security, being the number one priority of any serious government must be given priority and pledged reform in the Immigration, Prisons, Fire Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

Dambazzau described the ministry as `very strategic’ to the resuscitation and transformation of the Criminal Justice System in Nigeria.

“There is no doubt that the Nigeria Security sector need reforms, especially when it concerns security sector governance.

“Nigerian prisons for example are highly congested with persons awaiting trials and we need to do something urgently about this,’’ he said.

The minister decried lack of training; human capacity development and modern equipment in the Services that would help boost service delivery and called on stakeholders to collaborate with the Federal Government to reverse this trend.

He warned officials of the ministry and its parastatal agencies to key into the Federal Government zero tolerance for corruption in the discharge of their duties.

Dambazau however promised to look into the welfare of staff and officials with a view to making them more professional and productive.

Earlier, the new Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Bassey Apkanyung pledged the support and cooperation of members of staff.

The meeting was attended by Directors in the Ministry, Heads of Immigration, Prisons, Fire Service, NSCDC and a representative of the Inspector-General of Police