The executives and members of ASIS International, Region 11A, will hold the Africa Security Conference from July 28 to July 29, 2022, in Accra, Ghana.

The event at the Accra International Conference Centre is on the theme, ‘Private Security and its Role in Business and Government in Africa.’

A statement issued by the organisers said ASIS International is a global community of over 54,000 security practitioners, each of whom has a role in protecting assets – people, property and information.

ASIS members are very active in almost every industry in the public and private sectors and organisations of all sizes.

The conference will bring security professionals from within and outside the Africa Region to deliberate and share insights on private security issues.

The statement said, in addition to the educational sessions designed and vetted by industry experts, “we will have the most extensive exhibition of state-of-the-art security technology and services assembled with several high-profile companies prepared to demonstrate their products in an unequalled opportunity for ‘hands-on’ display.”

It said this confluence of users and producers of security goods and services would be an excellent forum to create awareness of their contributions to civil society.

The organisers noted that, globally, the private security industry, especially the manned guarding sector, is outnumbering the public security services, and it is imperative that African governments actively engage the industry for the benefit of their societies.

The statement said in Ghana and other African countries, governments have not accorded the industry the necessary recognition and support to help improve their operations.

“The private security industry forms the backbone of social and economic development of most economies in the world and, during the past few decades, it has emerged as the largest growing sector of the world economy, making an enormous contribution to output and employment,” it added.

It said the sector’s growth rate is higher than that of the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.

The statement said one of the essential constituents of the service sector is private security service.

“The significance of PSCs in crime prevention ranges from general to vital. They prevent intrusion, unauthorised entry or activity, vandalism and trespassing on private/ government property.

“Increasingly, they are also involved in the protection of Critical National Infrastructure. They also prevent or detect theft, loss, embezzlement and misappropriation or concealment of merchandise, money, bonds, stocks, notes, valuables documents or papers,” the statement stressed.

It further noted that PSCs “protect individuals from bodily harm, providing a reassuring presence, adherence to, and enforcement of, established company rules, regulations, measures, policies and practices relating to crime reduction.”

The organisers, therefore, called for closer collaboration between the various relevant government security agencies to run a successful conference.