Patrick Ikenweiwe, deputy director at the Department of State Services (DSS), says first-class graduates in Nigeria’s academic institutions should be forced to join the secret agency.
Ikenweiwe spoke on Wednesday during the 2025 distinguished personality lecture organised by the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, Kwara state.
The deputy director, who represented Adeola Ajayi, DSS director-general, delivered a topic titled: ‘The Roles of the DSS in Security, Peacekeeping and National Integration’.
Speaking during the event, Ikenweiwe said individuals with low academic performance should not be entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the country’s security apparatus.
The deputy director noted that academic institutions should provide the secret service with their top graduates to strengthen the security framework.
He said the recruitment process for security agencies should ensure the inclusion of the best talent in the country.
“If I have my way the best of the lot from every academic institution must be forced to serve in the secret service; that is how it is in the so-called developed nations,” he said.
“Like I know, in Israel, there is one examination that students take to into the university. The moment you score above 70 marks, you have no option but to be sent to the university
“Tell me, how would a dullard be able to keep security in a criminal gang that is constituted of first-class people. You know, you need 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”
