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FIGHTING INSECURITY
Changing Nigeria’s Security Architecture?

L to R: Charles Achodo, STA (Niger Delta) to Hon. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Lt. Gen. Chika Obiakor (rtd.), former Force
Commander - United Nations Mission in Liberia, and Group Capt. Sadeeq Shehu (rtd.), Senior Research Fellow, National Defence College

Preamble Achodo moderated the session. He is a Technical

Adviser (on Niger Delta) to Honourable Minister of
A state sets up its security institutions to meet its core State for Petroleum Resources and former Director
remit of protecting its citizens from both internal and for Africa at the UNDP/ BCPR in New York.
external aggressions. This role is challenged as
Nigeria is increasingly under threat from criminals and
Case for a National Security Architecture
conflict entrepreneurs. While the nation’s security
agencies speak about containing1 and eliminating2 A national security architecture is a combination of
these threats, scores of lives are lost every day to national policies, strategies and plans for securing
preventable insecurity. About 2 million3 Nigerians - lives and properties in the country as well as the
almost the population of Gambia4 – are internally institutions and structures for their creation,
displaced by the insurgents in the Northeast region. management and oversight. It goes beyond the remit
In fact, attacks appear to have intensified despite of any single security organisations to include
deployment of security forces to these conflict areas. everyone involved in defining a nation’s strategic
security priorities. It also entails how to structure the
Will a change in Nigeria’s security architecture lead to institutions, ensure they are resourced, coordinated,
a reduction in the security challenges? This is the and evaluated. Nigeria needs to define her security
question that was explored at Nextier’s “Development problem, prioritise objectives, define strategy, secure
Discourse”. The first discussant was Lt. Gen. the involvement of the people, expand the force,
Chikadibia Obiakor (rtd.), a former Force agree institutional arrangements, and secure funding.
Commander of the United Nations Mission in Liberia
and former Commander of the Economic Community Problem Definition: Nigeria’s inability to properly
of West African States Monitoring Group Artillery define or contextualise its security challenges has
Brigade in Liberia. The second discussant was resulted in many ineffectual responses. Boko Haram
Group Captain Sadeeq G. Shehu (rtd.), Senior has, at various stages, been defined as a religious,
Research Fellow, National Defence College and regional, class problem. Even the appellation, “Boko
Adjunct Professor, George C. Marshall European Haram” is evidence of a failure to understand the real
Centre for Security Studies in Germany. Mr. Charles nature of the challenge. Even at the moment, there is
1
still a failure to properly define the conflict as the Fighting Insecurity
insurgents align more closely with the global terror
organisation, “Islamic State”. This failure has A successful national security architecture begins with
impacted Nigeria’s response to the problem. defining one’s national interest. Nigeria needs the
confidence to design a homegrown national security
Goal Prioritisation: A national security architecture strategy that involves all institutions, including both
should outline security priorities that reflect the needs the state and non-state actors. The nation must stop
of the people; and not the interests of its government copying security strategies from other countries.
security agencies (GSAs). The prioritisation ensures
efficient allocation of limited resources. The state no longer has the monopoly of violence, as
such, buy-in of the people is required to build and
Strategy Revision: Nigeria’s security architecture is sustain peace and stability. Professionalisation of the
out-dated and unfit for the prevailing asymmetric security forces will replace the culture of brutality
warfare. Nigeria’s security threats are unconventional towards civilians and should improve the flow and
and homegrown; yet, its military strategy is fit for quality of information from the people. For instance,
external aggression. In its hey days, Nigeria was a while surveillance technology can be leveraged to
leader in stabilising many war-torn countries in Africa. protect the borders, intelligence is required to identify
However, failure to evolve its security architecture and neutralise the threats.
means the Army, which was dreaded in Africa, has
failed to defeat non-state actors across the nation. Nigeria needs to commit to a reform of the defence
Furthermore, Nigeria’s security strategy, which should and security sectors. The existing security framework
be subjected to public debate, is held in secrecy. has shown that there is no clear chain of command.
A decentralised framework (with both state and local
Institutional Arrangement: There is need to government policing) could help provide swift
streamline the multiplicity of security agencies in response to hostilities.
Nigeria; many of which do not have clear-cut
jurisdiction and scope of operation. This condition has Nigeria must cease to be reactionary and build up the
deepened inter-agency rivalry making it difficult for capability of its defence forces. For a start, security
collaboration to achieve a common goal. agencies with similar objectives should be
streamlined to eliminate role duplications.
People Engagement: Nigerians have a shared
responsibility with the GSAs to secure the state. This Though Nigeria’s defence budget is low, it can deliver
has not been the case because the GSAs have lost much more impact than it currently does. Nigeria
the trust and respect of the people. This is due to needs accountability policies, processes, and
unprofessionalism and brutality of the security restrictions to ensure higher impact from the available
operatives thereby alienating the people who should security budgets.
be the eyes and ears for security intelligence.
The government (including the legislature, judiciary,
Secure Funding: Nigeria spends far less on security and executive) should be effective in taking decisions,
and defence than is stipulated by organisations such ensuring accountability of security personnel,
as the IMF and the World Bank. According to the coordination of multiple stakeholders, monitoring and
2019 Global Firepower Index5, Nigeria spends less evaluation of military operations and peace building
than 1 percent of her GDP on defence6. The IMF and initiatives.
the World Bank recommend that countries (even
without security challenges) should spend at least 1.5 Conclusion
percent of their GDP on security which is a Every Nigerian has a role to play in tackling security
prerequisite for sustainable development. Poor challenges facing the country. There is need for a
accountability for current security spending makes it unified stance guided by an agreed national interest,
difficult to argue for an increase. irrespective of political, religious and ethnic
affiliations. This national security architecture should
Expand the Force: Nigeria has a military strength of significantly improve Nigeria’s chances of mitigating
about 120,000. This is grossly inadequate for a the spate of violence across the country.
population of over 200 million. According to United
Nations, countries needs one police officer for every Event video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixNnB4mCMpA&t=211s
450 citizens7. As such, Nigeria needs about 450,000
Event photos:
(instead of the estimated 371,8008) police officers. www.flickr.com/photos/nextieradvisory/albums/72157709076863286
1 5. https://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=nigeria
References

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/06/insecurity-crime-rate-is-declining-in-nigeria-says-igp-adamu/
2. http://saharareporters.com/2019/06/17/we-have-eliminated-boko-haram-terrorists-sambisa-nigerian- 6. https://www.sipri.org/databases/milex

airforce-claims 7. https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/october-2009/security-highest-bidder
3. https://www.unhcr.org/nigeria-emergency.html 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria_Police_Force
4 https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/

2 www.nextierspd.com [email protected] +234 701 002 7301