The Director-General of the Department of State Services, Mr. Oluwatosin Ajayi, has advocated the recruitment of first-class graduates into the intelligence agency to strengthen national security.
Ajayi made this call when he delivered 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 called for a paradigm shift in recruitment and staffing within security agencies to ensure only the best minds are enlisted.
Represented by the DSS Deputy Director, Mr. Patrick Ikenweiwe, the DG said recruiting top academic performers into the DSS should be a compulsory national policy, similar to Israel’s selective university admission system.
He said there was the need for a shift in public perception, noting that many Nigerians view security agencies as adversaries rather than allies.
Ajayi warned that such attitudes negatively impact 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.”
