DSS Sends Warning to Nigerians Flaunting Wealth Publicly

The Department of State Services (DSS) has warned that Nigerians who are in the habit of publicly displaying their wealth are exposing themselves to great security risk.

The deputy director, security enforcement of the DSS Kwara command, Paul Oduh, gave the warning on Friday, July 23, in Ilorin, the capital of the state, The Nation reported .

Speaking during a symposium organised by the state branch of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Oduh pointed out that a flamboyant lifestyle attracts kidnappers, bandits, and other criminals.

Daily Trust reported that the security official pointed out that the current security challenges in the country indicate that these were not the best of times to show off.

According to the DSS deputy director, boastful and unsafe habitual daily routines, such as keeping late nights can also make someone prone to avoidable attacks.

He mentioned that the types of threats to individuals, families could face in the country include assassination, terrorism, insurgency, kidnapping, ritual killing,cultism, robbery, and arson.

“People must adopt moderate lifestyles, so as not to fall prey to these criminal elements.''

The security expert advised citizens to secure their homes and properties with physical security measures like burglary proofs, protective security gadgets, and perimeter fencing, among others.

Earlier, the Federal Capital Territory minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, urged residents of the territory to be very vigilant and conscious of their personal security.

The minister gave the advice at the meeting of the FCT security committee which comprised the heads of the police, military and para military formations in the FCT, area council chairmen and religious leaders.

Bello reiterated that the FCT was safe and called on residents not to leave security matters to the law enforcement agencies alone.

According to him, it is almost impossible for security agencies to be everywhere one hundred per cent.

The minister said that in comparison to several cities around the world, FCT remained quite safe.

He also called on the residents not be swayed by rumours or unverified online news but confirm their veracity before circulating them.

Bello said that fake or false news on security information had the capacity to lead to breach of peace.

The minister, however, commended the area council chairmen and traditional rulers in curbing the herdermen crisis and urged them to continue on the path of ensuring peace.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has lamented that insecurity is holding down the development and progress of the country.

Nigerian Tribune reports that the president made this known on Tuesday, while playing a host to the senators and members of the House of Representatives in Abuja, the nation's capital.

Buhari said the menace has inhibited his administration’s ability to build infrastructure and engage in other development targets it set for the country.

The president said the prevailing situation requires hard choices and difficult decisions that must be taken with diligence and patriotism, adding that such measures remain the only way to ensuring Nigeria’s survival.

He told the lawmakers that nothing must be spared in ending insecurity, reinstating his administration’s readiness to use everything within its powers to restore peace and bring perpetrators of criminal activities to book.

According to him, insecurity has also truncated the government’s plan to provide the much-needed social services to the people and to attract investments that drive innovation, create industries and provide jobs and create wealth.