The position of the Director of Bureau of National Investigations (D|BNI) is a very delicate and sensitive one with huge responsibilities.
It is also a political position which therefore means that new governments would have to appoint the director of the national investigation institution to stir the affairs of intelligence collation activities on behalf of the state.
It is only in a few instances where directors were allowed to continue in the position even though new national government were formed.
A renewal of the appointment of current director should be seen as a new appointment with new terms of reference, which will demand preparedness for new assignments and responsibilities.
Selecting and choosing a completely new person to head the institution would come along with the same burden and delicate responsibilities to be discharged.
Some of the new realities to be addressed by the Director of the Bureau of National Investigations will include, but not limited to;
1. Staff Welfare:
Staff welfare is crucial and critical at this point in time and it should be taking more seriously to quickly address the elements of dissatisfaction and motivational lapses, which are key propellers to great investigative performances.
2. Recruitment and Training:
When the right personnel with the right skills are recruited, it makes it easier to achieve greater intelligence collection outcomes.
Recruiting people with wrong attitudes into such sensitive national intelligence institution has the highest possibility of dwindling efforts, jeopardizing collective outcomes, with the great danger of compromising the standard principles of the institution.
The background checks regime should and must be seriously rigorous to eliminate unqualified persons or applicants into the offices of the institution.
The consequential effects of recruiting an illegitimate and unsuitable individual as an officer of the institution would be highly detrimental, and should be avoided at all cost through proper and professional due diligence processes which are capable of producing the right results in the recruitment process.
Irrespective of whoever is recruited, strategic training is an essential ingredient, and it is important for the director to ensure that old and new officers are trained adequately in both general and in specific subject areas.
It will enable officers to independently master the tradecraft, and to develop expertise which are key for continuous skills development and sustainability of the institution’s relevance in national affairs.
When skills of officers are professionally developed and expertise are built, it creates the needed spectrum of resources to achieve strategic national objectives.
The institution can therefore be confidently positioned as capable of managing the sensitive nature of intelligence and investigative works in national affairs, without hiccups and upheavals.
Lack of training creates obsolescence and skills gap which affect investigative activities in the various fields.
When skills and expertise gaps are not well-balanced and resolved, it will be detrimental to the overall effectiveness of the institution in relation to strategic national intelligence gathering sustainability.
3. Leadership:
Great leaders build great institutions and effective workforce to deliver results and to achieve strategic goals. The new director is obliged under the current circumstances to provide credible, truthful and results oriented leadership, and to also lead the various teams and heads of departments or units to do same without wavering.
Great cooperations and collaborative efforts will create the necessary synergies to achieve the institutional goals and objectives.
When leadership is effectively exploited to its full advantage, optimum level performances will be easily achieved.
The new Director of the Bureau of National Investigation has a duty to succeed and a responsibility to deliver credible results on behalf of the State, which cannot be underestimated nor overridden by any unjust action.
4. Resource Mobilization:
Limited resources create allocation issues. Achieving credible results with limited and inadequate resources become very problematic when not effectively managed.
The right resources would have to be mobilized as quickly as possible to replenish shortages and to double up in some cases.
Lack of requisite resources can hamper field investigation activities and create a deep loophole in the performances of departments, units, and officers of the institution.
The new director should liaise with national security coordination and political governance leaderships to ensure adequate security resources are made available to the institution without delays.
Performances can be benchmarked against resources deployed and where there are shortages, it can create indecent behavioral issues for officers, and negative outlooks for the institution.
5. Housing and Remuneration:
Housing and the appropriateness of it is essential under the current conditions of the new normal. It will help official duties being performed at officers private apartments to be secured and sealed from intrusive activities by onlookers.
Limited housing arrangements can create congestion which is inimical to the principle of secrecy and confidentiality, and it can also affect the safe transmission and delivery of confidential and classified information.
Officers remuneration would have to be looked at again and improved as quickly as possible, which in itself is a morale booster to trigger higher performances, and to maintain the decency of lifestyle required within the intelligence working environments.
One key aspect to be considered as a matter of exigency and priority is pension funds management and schemes for officers, which would be essential and beneficial to both old and new entrants.
6. Communication & Technology:
Secured communication has become the headache of many sensitive security and intelligence institutions across the globe, particularly so in the tremendous growth and sophistication of cybercrime and cyberspace criminals. It is important to acquire the right communication tools and to make use of an effective technology, which secures the operational environments for security intelligence communications, and for the collection and collation of national intelligence activities without breaches and leakages.
Documentary security has also become an essential activity of security intelligence institutions and they will have to compete effectively with the best technology companies in the global space to guarantee safety and efficiency at all times.
It is a huge task ahead and a great responsibility for the new Director of the Bureau of National Investigation, but it is doable. It is a hurdle which can easily be overcomed with a little bit of determination and commitment.
I wish the new director, the best of luck and pray for God’s guidance and wisdom which can only come from above with the creative power to succeed.
