Mr. Oluwatosin Ajayi, the Director-General of the Department of State Services, (DSS) has demanded a policy of making compulsory the recruitment of first-class graduates into the intelligence agency to solidify national security.
The call was made by Ajayi during the delivery of the 2025 Distinguished Personality Lecture at the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, Kwara State.
In his lecture, titled “The Roles of the DSS in Security, Peacekeeping, and National Integration,” Ajayi clamoured for a paradigm shift in recruitment and staffing within security agencies to ensure only the best minds are enlisted.
The DSS DG was represented by Deputy Director, Mr. Patrick Ikenweiwe, he opine that recruiting top academic performers into the DSS should be a compulsory national policy, in line with Israel’s selective university admission system.
The DSS DG emphasized on the need for a shift in public perception, highlighting that many Nigerians view security agencies as foes rather than subordinates.
He cautioned that such attitudes does not have a positive impact on intelligence gathering, peacebuilding, and national integration.
“Like I know, in Israel, there is one examination that students take to get admitted into the university. The moment you score above 70 marks, you have no option but to be sent to the university there.”
He buttressed that intelligence work demands exceptional intellect to combat complicated criminal networks.
“Tell me how would a ‘Dundee’ (dullard) be able to keep security in a criminal gang that is constituted of First Class people? You know, it takes intellect to track criminality.”
“So, if I have my way in this country, and we keep praying that we do the right thing, the academia should be able to supply us, sincerely, the details of students who have excelled in their various fields of study so that they would be forced to serve this great nation,” he said.
With the clamour for mandatory recruitment of Nigeria’s First-Class into intelligence services, the DSS aspires to boost its operational framework in addressing uprising security threats and solidifying national integration and peace.
