By Isiaka Mustapha, Editor-in-Chief, People’s Security Monitor

The Akwa Ibom State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Jonathan Olariche, has called for a non-kinetic approach to tackling the vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure, stressing the need for community engagement and collaboration.Olariche made the call in Uyo on Thursday when a delegation of the American Tower Company (ATC), one of Nigeria’s major telecommunications infrastructure operators, paid him a courtesy visit.

He said a well-coordinated non-kinetic strategy, anchored on dialogue, trust-building and community participation, would provide a more effective solution to the growing threat of vandalism against critical national assets.According to him, engaging host communities and securing their cooperation are essential to ensuring the protection of telecommunications infrastructure across the state.“We need to adopt community engagement and trust-building approaches.

This will help us win the acceptance of host communities,” Olariche said.The commandant assured the ATC delegation of the corps’ readiness to collaborate with the company in promoting public awareness and strengthening efforts to protect telecommunications facilities.

He added that the command would partner with ATC to organise town hall meetings with community representatives to sensitise residents on the importance of safeguarding telecommunications infrastructure.Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Mr Michael Ekweogwu, said the company’s operations had been hampered by the activities of some members of host communities.Ekweogwu, the ATC Security Supervisor for the South-South region, explained that some communities often prevented engineers from accessing telecommunications base stations for maintenance and other essential services.

He said community members also obstructed contractors from refuelling generators powering the facilities, while some made excessive demands that disrupted the company’s operations.“Sometimes, they make outrageous demands that affect our operations,” he said.Ekweogwu appealed to residents of host communities to regard telecommunications infrastructure as collective assets whose protection would benefit everyone.

He urged community members to cooperate with the company and security agencies to prevent vandalism and ensure the uninterrupted delivery of telecommunications services.“Please work with us to protect telecommunications infrastructure in your communities. This is in our collective interest,” he said.